


Winds of Change

by Strawberrybats



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dragons, F/F, Gen, relationships and characters will be added as they appear, this will be a monster of a tag system soon enough don't worry
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-21
Updated: 2018-02-10
Packaged: 2018-11-03 04:09:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 47,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10959360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Strawberrybats/pseuds/Strawberrybats
Summary: After twenty years of deliberation, Queen Minami approaches Umi Sonoda about a task of grave importance: She is to reinstate the dragon knights. With a giant dragon razing their towns and the northern countries vying for a route through Otonokizaka to the sea-bordering nations below, the job seems monumental. And as Umi gains confidence, the stakes only get higher.(Fantasy/Dragons AU.)





	1. Captain Sonoda

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! I've been working on this for ages, and I'm extremely excited to finally be putting it up! I should be updating this once a week, every week for at least a month, because i promised myself i wouldn't even let myself Start until i had suitable backfill in case writer's block decided to come for a visit lmao. The title drove me absolutely bonkers so it. might change at some point. probably not because that's just a downhill spiral waiting to happen
> 
> This is going to be long. Like, really long. Like might-break-it-into-two-or-three-separate-fics long. That in mind, I hope you enjoy! Thank you so much for reading!

Umi stands in a ring across from her opponent with a sword in both hands – one on the hilt and the other steadying the blade. Even if this is not a true battle, if she’s to have any success in training, then she has to treat it as one. The scorekeeper counts to the end of the preparation period. Umi allows herself a slight thrill, the anticipation of her match.

In a fight the ending, ultimately, could come down to three maneuvers: one to set up the blow, the blow itself, and the kill. Umi wants to prepare her recruits for longer battles, but that doesn’t mean she’s obligated to show mercy when they are left open.

So it’s over in three maneuvers.

First, she lunges, body twisting to the side and out of the way of a would-be incapacitating blow, keeping her knees bent and ready to snap to the other side should it be followed up faster than she expected. She readies her own strike. The sword swings past her, making a sharp sound as the air is disturbed. The recruit is off-balance.

Second, she actually strikes, feinting right and using the movement to lure her recruit into a kick to the leg, just below the kneecap. The girl buckles into a kneel as expected, and Umi swings the blunt end of her practice sword around and smacks her upside the head with it.

Finally, Umi holds the tip of the wooden sword down accusingly at her unlucky trainee’s neck. “That was much too short. I’ve seen you fight the others, Shiga. You had at least ten more maneuvers in you.”

The other girl’s mouth twists into a frown, but she takes the judgement without any actual complaint. Umi removes the sword and crosses her arms, wooden blade put away squarely in the dirt. “Is there a reason?” Umi asks, without real harshness.

“I heard from Mimi on the kitchen staff that you might be summoned early today by the Queen for reports, and wanted you to have time to wash up.” The girl admits, as if grudgingly. “I mean, I think a little dirt is to be expected after all day in the field, but Tsurugi says I don’t understand the “nuances”, or whatever.”

Umi sighs. “You know as well as I do that you’re right and it’s no excuse –“

A wry smile crosses Hitomi’s face. “The princess will be there, captain.”

That stops Umi for a moment, forcing her to run the sentence through her mind until it becomes something comprehensible again. She makes the hasty decision to let her off the hook, for now, in the interest of taking advantage of the extra time. “…You’re dismissed,” She says, and, upon seeing the amused look on her face, quickly adds: “But you’ll be going first thing in the morning for drills tomorrow.”

“I figured as much,” She says with a shrug. Umi forgot that this particular trainee would take it as a challenge more than a punishment. Unfortunate. “Good luck with that princess of yours.”

Umi fumes but turns around and makes for the castle, knowing that to prepare the bath and not get called in the middle of it may take a bit of luck on her part. At least she’d need to be wearing her formal armor anyways, and not the worn-out set she uses for sparring.

The summons come a healthy ten minutes after she’s finished her bath and toweled off – Umi is pulling on her gloves when the maid comes to announce her request. “Tell her majesty I will be there shortly.” Umi says curtly, and then stays a minute or two in her room making sure her station is clean before she leaves.

The throne room never fails to give Umi a certain kind of feeling, however hard it is to put her finger on it. She thought she was intimidated, once, when she had still been a rookie scrambling around the halls behind her mother and father or coming in to escort the captain once in a blue moon after missions – but intimidated doesn’t seem quite the right word anymore.

There’s a high ceiling, which gives the room an almost cathedral-like feeling. Tapestries were hung at the top at each end, spaced by grand windows of foggy stained glass. It shines so that when the sun is high, the queen’s throne is backlit by it, glass lighting up with more colors than the best of inks could replicate. The carpet, thick and long and leading up a very small set of stairs to the throne, was a deep purple, and the throne itself was at least two times the size of the woman who sat in it and lined with soft things. Maybe that’s where the intimidation came in – everything seemed too big.

But it wasn’t done in a way that made her feel smaller, which is why she supposed it could be quite pretty and even relaxing once she swallowed her nerves.

Queen Minami cared more about beauty than vanity, in a sense. The throne was only too big because it once seated someone much taller than her.

Umi marches up to the end of the room and takes a knee before the throne. The Queen is cordial and quiet while they exchange the usual greetings, and Umi can see Kotori off to the right with a smaller but no less regal chair, and is given a wave and the briefest of smiles.

She almost forgets she is still in a room with the monarch, until the woman in question clears her throat and Umi realizes with a start that she is still in a kneel.

She snaps to attention and apologizes for that behavior immediately. “I am terribly sorry, your majesty. Please, forgive my inattention.”

“I haven’t said anything yet,” She points out, a thinly veiled smile gracing her lips. The Queen always makes eye contact when she speaks; Umi actually finds it rather nice. She also looks tired, though, with the makings of bags under her eyes. She’s terribly patient with Umi, and anyone else that might make their way into the throne room. “So there is no need to apologize.”

“Of course, your majesty.” Umi has to catch another apology in her throat before it can escape her, and she coughs once to mask the beginnings of it. “You sent for me?”

Queen Minami nods. “Yes. Months ago, I asked if you would be willing to take on your own division of the guard. Do you remember?”

“Of course, your majesty.” She replies without missing a beat. Redundant, perhaps, but to the point. “I accepted that request. Has something come up? Is there trouble? Must it be formed early?”

The Queen looks almost amused at this, and Umi sneaks a hasty glance at Kotori, off to the side, who is smiling and also looking for all the world as if she’d like to laugh at Umi’s expression. Seeing this, Umi withers a little, and returns her eyes to the Queen. “It is nothing so grave, Sonoda. I only waited so that you would not have to be in suspense. I’ve heard from many that you can be…quite the worrier. I thought it best you did not have to wait as long. In any case, I have gotten everything in order so that you may take control from here.”

She folds her hands in her lap, and looks excited, and pensive, like someone waiting to share a secret and asking first if the receiver can keep it. It’s a surprisingly childish look on their ruler – not that Umi will ever dare voice that thought. “Are you prepared for the details?”

Umi nods. It goes without saying.

“You are to lead a small, specialized division of the guard. The members will be chosen at your own discretion. Then –“ She pauses for a second longer at this, like she cannot think of the proper words to use. Umi thinks she looks at Kotori, who is knitting idly in her seat. “-You and each member of your division will choose a partner.”

She has to raise a question at this. “My division is going to select more members by themselves? Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of personally selecting them?”

The Queen shakes her head. “I do not mean that you will be teaming up with other knights.”

“Then…?” Umi leaves the question hanging, not wishing to be rude but uncertain of who else would be needed in a guard unit.

“Everyone in your unit will choose a dragon to fight beside. I’m reinstating the dragon knights.”

At this, the room goes almost impossibly silent. Umi can’t help it; she steals a glance at Kotori, whose entire posture has shifted. Where before she was relaxed and even enjoying the quiet meeting, content to knit in her spare time, she is now completely alert, staring at her mother with an intensity Umi doesn’t think she can really identify. She supposes that focus is a good thing, because it means Kotori has not noticed Umi’s wandering eyes.

She clears her throat in hopes of dispelling the slack-jawed silence that threatens to overtake her otherwise. “I see. So, essentially, I will select half of this squad, and in turn, each of them will find their own partner. But…where?” It’s a genuine question. Wild dragons are impossible to work with, and the civil ones tend to have issue being used in battle. Any of the old dragon families that had once served in combat had long since earned their reprieve, and had no reason to get involved in anything like this. The standing army of Otonokizaka was quite small now, being in peacetimes, so there’s no real need of a call to arms among dragons.

Umi can feel Kotori’s eyes on her and hopes silently that the queen will respond fast.

Thankfully, she does. “Some of the old divisions had children, years ago. A few of those children have chosen to enlist at the encouragement of their families. Now that they are all old enough, I have decided to press forward with this idea, so I hope you know that I have high expectations. If word reaches me that any of your knights have acted out of line….”

“Never, your majesty!” Umi yelps, so quickly she fears she may have plain shouted the words, and bows her head.

It doesn’t seem to upset her. “Do not be so quick to lower yourself, I was only informing you of the risk. You will also have to keep your knights safe, of course. In either case, I’ve arranged for all the recruits to gather in the fields just behind the castle. They are being housed there until you and your knights have chosen partners. Many still will end up going home.” Umi nods, and the queen draws in a deep breath. “Keep your unit small for now. Three or four good knights will be all that is required – I would….much prefer this not be a highly noticed event.”

That makes enough sense – other kingdoms would certainly take notice if Otonoki’s military force were suddenly joined by dragons. It might provoke things if it is too sudden.

“Is there anything else I should know?” She asks, tentatively. Umi is still anxious at the idea that her knights could act out of line.

“Do try not to overlook anyone. Sometimes the least obvious choices will make the most well rounded squadron.”

Umi nods, once more. “Understood, your majesty.”

“You are dismissed.”

Umi gives the usual bow before taking her leave, trying her best not to look too anxious on the way out.

Wouldn’t want anyone to think she’s a worrier, after all.

* * *

Even though it’d grown a bit late to be actually picking recruits, Umi figures it can’t hurt to go observe a few of the ones that haven’t yet been assigned to any one place so she’ll have a better idea of where to start tomorrow.

It would seem her plans will have to wait, though. Kotori catches up with her, just as Umi is leaving her quarters to make her rounds. “Umi!” She says, quickly, as if it is a surprise to see Umi in front of her own room.

“Princess.” She greets, dropping to bow.

“Umi…..” Kotori trails off, sounding disappointed. The intonation is enough to let Umi know what she wants.

She sighs and stands up, still avoiding eye contact if nothing else. “Kotori,” She corrects. “Hello.”

Honestly, Umi will never understand the princess’ insistence that she do that – isn’t it disrespectful? It is one thing to drop the title as children, but now that Umi is an adult….she feels that Kotori is too relaxed about her status.

…..Well, she supposes it at least serves to make Kotori smile. Maybe that’s enough. She shakes her head, trying to recover her thoughts. “Do you need something, Kotori?”

Kotori wrings her hands, pulling and adjusting the sleeves of her dress. “I was…hoping to ask you something.”

“You’re always welcome to.” She does her best to keep her tone light and amicable despite her worry over what the question may be for – she hopes it is for something trivial like picking out a fabric, and not what she believes it to be.

Kotori takes a deep breath. Looks Umi in the eyes. “I want to be on this new division.”

Ah. Damn it.

If there’s one thing on earth Umi finds unbearable with every inch of her being, it’s telling the princess no.

But there are many things Umi finds unbearable, and one of them happens to be putting the crown princess in any type of danger, so she swallows back her discomfort at doing the first thing and holds staunchly to the second. “Kotori, I can’t. It’s outside my position to recruit the princess, even if I was willing to.”

“But – Umi!” Kotori expected that answer, Umi knows she did, but it’s still a slap to the face to see her upset. She turns her head so she won’t have to. “Umi, please, I can be helpful!”

Umi isn’t sure she can respond without stuttering, so she holds her tongue, and across from her, Kotori pouts and crosses her arms, also silent.

They stay that way for a while, until Umi sighs and tries to evaluate the situation for what it is.

Kotori is a tall, elegant girl, even ignoring the influences her dresses may have had on that assessment. She keeps her back straight, and brushes her hair to perfection in the mornings. She has a narrow face, sort of, but Umi thinks it’s nice, better than her own rather strong jaw (she’d been told before that she looked like a boy because of it, which annoyed her to some degree).

In short, Kotori is every bit as regal as her station demands of her.

She’d also been the least popular child in the kingdom, once.

Umi closes her eyes as if it will help her in reminiscing.

She hadn’t been able to understand it quite as well, not when she was younger and still too shameless to bat an eyelash when the little grey haired girl in the dress approached her and wanted to play, and certainly not when she was just a touch older and went to town to see people sending odd looks in the direction of the castle, muttering. What she could understand was that the man the queen had been married to, Kotori’s father, was a dragon.

It hadn’t occurred to her until she was much older that the same could be said of Kotori, when she muffled her laughter with a too-long dress sleeve and asked Umi if she wanted to see something cool.

Back in the present, Umi shakes her head again, breaking the duo out of the seemingly shared reverie. “I know that. Possibly better than anyone else in the castle. But I would not put your safety at risk over a whim like this. Your mother would not allow it and I will not either.”

“It’s not a whim. I’ve been wanting a chance for something like this for a long time, Umi.” She corrects wistfully. “I want to help you, especially. We can travel together.”

She sighs again. “I hate telling you no, but even if I was willing, I am not allowed. This is a discussion you must have with your mother, and there is no way the crown princess would be allowed to enlist – dragon or otherwise.” Umi allows herself the courage required to give Kotori a comforting touch to the shoulder, and a sheepish look. “You will have to forgive me – this is out of my hands. Good evening.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Kotori concedes sullenly, going her own way. Shortly after this, she seems to feel bad and calls back to Umi in a softer voice, “Good night, Umi.”

It makes her feel a bit better about the whole thing, but Umi gets the feeling Kotori isn’t going to give up here. She hopes that the Queen will pull through and be the one to say no where Umi can not.

* * *

Unfortunately, her chat pushed her arrival at the training grounds just past the time the recruits were called in for dinner, so there wasn’t much to see when she arrived. There’s only one knight still out; a short girl swinging around a sword just a little bit too big for her. She’s taking swings at a training dummy, persistent, measured swipes that are in good form, but not otherwise noteworthy.

Umi watches for a minute or two before she finally notices something she can correct. “You dropped your elbow there,” She points out, walking up to her slowly, head tilted.

This stops the girl short, and she looks up at Umi before straightening herself out and narrowing her eyes a touch. “What?”

She steps forward and moves to take the training sword tentatively, waiting for the recruit to let go before she grabs it. When it is given, Umi makes a slow swing mimicking hers, to demonstrate what she noticed. “Right…here, in your swing. You dropped your elbow and hit the dummy more towards the post.”

“And? I still hit it, didn’t I?”

Umi shakes her head. “You’re a bit shorter than the average soldier. If you were to strike like that in a real battle, you’d be hitting them where the armor is strong, just over the thigh. It leaves you too open to a counterattack with no real reward – even if you strike hard enough to pierce armor, a superficial wound like that wouldn’t kill or severely cripple the enemy.” She takes a deep breath. “In brief, it is not recommended.”

The girl grunts in response and takes the sword back, indicating for Umi to step away before she started again, and releases a flurry of swings, most if not all of which score the dummy squarely in the chest, leaving the sack with a rivet in it from the repeated striking.

As if daring her to find fault with that, she drives the tip of the sword into the dirt by her feet and crosses her arms.

“How long have you been out here?” Umi asks, trying to get a read on her.

“Maybe an hour. I try to practice swordsmanship twice a day. Half an hour in the morning and a full one in the evening.” She replies, making an uneven gesture with her hand. She isn’t looking straight at Umi; she’s focused on something in the distance, or, more likely, focused on not making eye contact. “Reverse with spells, but those aren’t as important.”

Hm. That was more time than she’d expected. Still… “It’s important to train, but it’s worthless if you don’t have an instructor nearby to correct your mistakes.” Umi says finally. “If you don’t, you’ll keep making them and they will be difficult habits to break.”

“Did you come over here just to criticize me or what?” She snaps in an accusatory tone. “I’ve been working my ass off and just because you _just so happened_ to see me mess up –“

“I didn’t come to criticize.” Umi cuts in. “I was actually rather impressed with your dedication.” She gestures vaguely to the empty field. “Everyone else is at supper. You need to go eat and stay healthy.”

“O-oh.” Looking just the slightest bit humbled by the compliment, the girl turns away from Umi again and rubs at the back of her neck. “Well, yeah, duh. Of course a super knight like me is out training late!” She’s facing Umi again. “But it wouldn’t do for me to get sick, so I’ll just-“

Umi stops her. “What’s your name?”

“Nico Yazawa,” She replies confidently, puffing her chest out as much as she can, as if it is something Umi should recognize. “I’m sure my captain has bragged about me to you before.”

She’d never heard the name before, but Umi gets the sense it’s better not to let that slip to Nico, so she cracks a wry smile instead. “Well, tell your captain I may be borrowing you soon. I’ve been tasked with creating a new division of the guard, and I think I’d like to help you train a little more.”

Nico’s eyes are impossibly wide. “R-really?!” Her voice has gone up, embarrassingly high and near the point of cracking, and she quickly catches it and recovers, blowing it off. “I mean…obviously I would get chosen for an elite squad like the – uhh…..”

Umi rolls her eyes. “I can brief you tomorrow over lunch, meet me in the mess hall by noon. Just as a precaution, though….” Umi bites her lip, trying to think of a nondescript way to tell Nico that Umi is interested in helping her team up with a _dragon_. “…how do you feel about mounted combat?”

“Ah, the cavalry!” Not quite, but there doesn’t seem to be any stopping Nico now that she’s got it in her head. “Of course, the great Nico is talented on horseback, too….” Umi rolls her eyes and shakes her head. Quirky, but certainly with potential. She starts making her way back to her chambers while Nico is still rambling, hoping she will catch on quickly.

Nico barely notices, until the field is empty again and someone comes out to get her. “Nico! Get in here! Don’t let Kasane’s hard work go cold!” 

“Coming!! I’m coming, don’t let anyone eat my food!!”

Umi snorts and finally disappears back into the castle. She’ll have to wake up early tomorrow.

* * *

Rolling her shoulders to relieve some of the stiffness in her back, Umi stops to examine her work: a few dozen holes punctured neatly within the two centermost circles of her archery target. Good to see she still has her edge. She puts the bow away for the time being and changes out of her practice gear, stretching her back once again on the way out of the building.

Most people aren’t yet awake, but Umi sees the occasional early riser wandering around. Most greet her with a silent wave – it’s too early for most conversation.

Or, that’s what she assumes, anyways. A cheerful voice comes from the gardens, piquing Umi’s interest enough for her to investigate. Someone is squatting in the center of the area with small animals of nearly every variety perched nearby - rabbits, birds, a few dogs, maybe, but what really strikes Umi is the sheer amount of cats gathered in the garden.

Someone is seriously feeding _all_ of them?

“..Quite an impressive crowd you’ve got here.” Umi settles on saying, and some of the birds fly off but everything else stays where it is. The figure in the center stands up, enough for Umi to actually get an idea of what they look like.

A redhead with a very short, uneven haircut shoots her an even more uneven smile. Most of her seems to be covered up by a brown cloak much too big for her, and even her pants are baggy.

The whole effect makes her look younger than she probably is, assuming she’s castle staff.

“Morning!” She chirrups. If she’s bothered by Umi’s intrusion, she doesn’t show it. “Wanna pet some of the bunnies? They’ll let you get real close if you come up with food.”

Umi shakes her head. “I’ll decline for now. Where do you find the food to feed all of them?” And, as an afterthought, she asks, “..and, should you really be doing this in the castle garden and not somewhere a little more remote?”

She shrugs. “I dunno about the last thing, but as for the first, I sorta have a deal going with the chefs?” She says it like a question, then shakes her head and apparently gains confidence in that answer. “I hafta get them all the really good spices and stuff and in return they let me take aaallll the leftover stuff to the animals. And then I get to pet them! The animals, not the kitchen staff.” She giggles at that, as if it’s an easy mistake for someone to make.

“So you work with the kitchen?”

“Nope!” Umi is about to ask where she does work, but suddenly the girl has stepped away from the animals, and even more suddenly, begun twirling two daggers around by the handles as if it’s the least threatening thing in the world. Ignoring the safety concerns, Umi manages to at least spot the sheathes the weapons came from. “I get to practice this kind of stuff! Something about spies and super duper secret operations. I don’t go on those yet.”

“I’m assuming weapon twirling isn’t the only focus of your training, even if you have gotten quite good at it…” Umi remarks dryly.

The girl hums her agreement. “You’re one of the captains, right?”

Umi nods in response, and she nods back, giving a brief but attentive salute. “I’m Rin! What are you doing out in the courtyard this early?”

“Investigating a noise I heard.” She replies. “I’m sure you can guess what it was.”

“Was Tubbs making noises again?” Rin asks, looking around suddenly. She pounces on one of the cats, picking up a rather fat, striped orange tabby and scolding it. “Rin said to keep it down last time!”

“No, I –“ Just how self-aware was this girl, anyways? “I heard you, actually. You can stop…” Umi gestures haphazardly to whatever Rin is doing to the poor cat, who, for its part, does not appear even the least bit fazed about being shaken. “…Whatever that is, now.”

Rin makes an ‘O’ shape with her mouth and gently sets the cat down, giving a few apologetic pats before the feline purrs and dashes off. Much of the other crowd has snuck their food and left, too.

“So you do this every morning?”

She shrugs. “Not every morning, but most. Sometimes I ditch my magic classes and sneak them treats in the evening too.”

“At least you’re honest about it,” Umi says, crossing her arms. Usually she would be annoyed that someone skipped a class, but magic was something she dreads herself and never got the hang of. It was her one failure – naturally, Umi makes it a point to prove one can get by without it. “You have troubles with it as well?”

“Eh.” Rin replies in a noncommittal tone. “I just don’t like water spells. Or earth spells. I’m great at lightning though!” In demonstration, a bolt of the substance strikes the dagger Rin thrusts up in a heroic pose, and the electricity runs across the surface for a few seconds before dissipating. Rin appears unfazed despite having held the handle the entire time.

It makes Umi just the slightest bit embarrassed, but it was still a good demonstration. “Good to know.” She was going to inquire further, but -

“Umi!” At the sound of her name, Umi turns and sees Kotori running towards them, dress gathered up in her hands. While she is happy to see her friend, Umi feels dread pooling in her stomach.

Rin just watches her run up with a dumbstruck expression.

“Princess,” Umi starts, but Kotori shoots her a warning look and cuts her off with a hug. Rin gapes even more. Umi sighs. “Did you need something, Kotori?”

“Remember what we talked about last night?” Of course.

She does her best not to grit her teeth. “Yes, Kotori, I recall.”

Kotori takes a few steps back and straightens up. “I still want to join. I can be helpful.”

“I also recall asking you to speak with the Queen on the matter.” Umi says flatly.

This puts a bit of a damper on things – Kotori’s shoulders fall a bit. “I haven’t asked her yet,” She admits, with something resembling a pout, “But that doesn’t change anything! I want to join!”

“I believe I said _no_ , Kotori.” She has to make herself clear. Her statement is forceful, with no room for pushback. It makes her uncomfortable, but she must hold her ground on this. She has to.

It earns her a wide-eyed stare from the princess. And Rin. Gods, she keeps forgetting they have an audience. The redhead is looking on and clutching the chubby cat from before like a lifeline.

Regrettably for her, it seems like any movement will put her in the spotlight, and the tension in the air right now makes that seem a very intimidating thing. Umi feels a bit guilty for putting Rin in this situation, even if completely accidentally.

Meanwhile, Kotori gives Umi her usual pleading look for a few seconds longer, and when the guard captain refuses to flinch, her expression hardens as well. “Umi…” She says, softly.

No response.

Externally, Umi is stone. Internally, she hopes quite dearly Kotori lets up before she freaks out and accidentally caves.

Kotori presses forward. “As your princess, I order you to-“

“I refuse.” Interrupting is hard, but not as much as letting Kotori finish the sentence. Umi does her best and keeps her head stubbornly angled away from anywhere she could see Kotori, and focuses on Rin. “Rin, come with me. You’re on the division.”

“What?” Rin asks, obviously confused and not too enthralled with her sudden spotlight. Umi shoots her a look that gets the ‘listen-to-me-please-right-now-so-we-can-leave’ across and Rin flinches, sets the cat down, and does as told, leaving Kotori to sulk in the gardens while she trails Umi.

They walk in the opposite direction for a few minutes before Rin decides she’s not too keen on watching Umi scowl all day. “Umm…Captain Umi?”

She should have said Captain Sonoda, but Umi is in too bad of a mood to split hairs (and of course that always comes with the old joke, “oh, no, my mother was Captain Sonoda, please, call me Umi,” and so on and so forth. Being the prized daughter of the two most infamous knights in the kingdom means the family name is much, much overused by this point) and so she lets Rin get away with it. “Yes?” She says, a little too sharply.

“Ah, Rin was just curious,” She starts, fiddling with her hands, pulling at a loose thread on the sleeves of her shirt, “What do you mean, I’m on your squad?”

“Oh.” Umi feels some of the tension leave her and embarrassment takes its place. “I may have said that just to get away from the princess, but I won’t rescind my offer. Would you like to be placed in a new division? I’ll be leading a special force soon, and I need a few dedicated soldiers.”

Rin shrugs and gives her a sort of helpless, what-can-you-do look. “What’s special about it?”

Umi pauses. Based on what she knows about Rin, she really doesn’t need to say that much to get her in on it, and she isn’t as much of a risk of shouting it from the rooftops as Nico was (she hopes) so Umi settles for keeping it simple. “How about dragons?”

“Really?!” Bingo. Umi nods and Rin all but jumps on it. “I’m in! Uh, not that I tried out, but still. Yay!”

“Yay , indeed.” Umi says, stifling a laugh. “Want to accompany me to lunch?”

Rin grins. “Sure!”


	2. Resolve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to try and update this fridays for a while now! I'm very hype over the fact that ppl seem interested in reading this so I promise i'll try my best to Earn that interest and keep the story on a schedule for as long as my flighty ass can manage ahah. As it stands, I have four chapters lined up for after this one so updates should be consistent for A Damn Long Time

Sometimes it feels as if she’s gotten too good at what she does. Not as a job, or anything. Just things she does. Everything.

Short, precise movement, never a finger out of place or a note held that extra moment too long. Practiced hands on ivory keys.

Maki finishes and stays seated on the bench, back still straight. Her finger twitches idly in place. She taps her foot. Bounces her leg.

“Forget it,” She growls eventually, and stands up. There’s no way she can sit still long enough for a second song. Maki stretches out, arching her back and rolling her shoulders to relieve the tension. She scans the bookshelf; she’d read all those. The library – too daunting to search. Chess? Everyone is busy.

Annoyed, she leaves the room in search of more interesting pursuits, hoping the garden will offer something better for her. If nothing else, it can be a chance to really stretch out, or force some movement into her stiff routine.

She doesn’t pass anyone interesting on the way, just a few stable hands that cower when she sends so much as a glance in their direction.

It bugs her. A lot.

She’s mature, though, and elects to ignore it, pressing on into the stables themselves, where her mother is watching the animals contentedly. Maki doesn’t know what’s so interesting about a bunch of unintelligent quadrupeds, but her mother seems infatuated with the damn things, so it’s no surprise she’s in here feeding them sugar cubes and fruits.

Maki zeroes in on her and immediately begins to whine, approaching and gently butting her arm with her head. “Nothing is interesting,” She groans, maturely, because Maki is cool like that.

Her mother makes a noise like a scoff and pushes her away. “Those still hurt, you know.” She says with a teasing voice, pausing to affectionately run a hand through Maki’s hair, flattening it out around the top and allowing her to curl a finger around the base of one of her horns. There are two on each side: one short, curved around the ear, and the other slightly longer one near the crown of her head, a bit sharper than the one behind it.

“Tell me how to get rid of them, then….” Maki grumbles, none too happy about being rebuffed the way she was. Transfiguration was never her strongest point, but it’s obnoxious to know her mother can appear  _ completely _ human. Maki would kill for that kind of skill – think of all the uses! 

Well. Maybe being a dragon has more uses, but the bragging rights of yet another magic type mastered count for something.

But, her mother won’t tell her how she does it, and never has before, so it seems she’s stuck with simply trying to minimize what she is left with when she uses her return spell and hope some day she can eliminate all the variables at once.

With no response, Maki gets back to pouting. “There’s nothing to do at home and there’s nothing to do in town.”

“Why don’t you try learning how to ride the horses?” Tomoko suggests, not unkindly.

Maki just glowers and gestures accusingly to the animals in question. “ _ Why _ would I need to ride a horse?! We’re  _ dragons _ ! We can  _ fly _ !”

“It was just a suggestion, dear.” She replies, with a soft bout of laughter. “How about you check town anyways? I’m sure something will entertain you there.”

She shakes her head stubbornly. “Everyone knows me. Nobody would stick around for more than a minute.”

“What do you want me to tell you, then? It sounds like you’re already prepared to refuse everything I suggest.”

Maki pauses and lets it sit for a while. Her mother is right; she doesn’t know  _ what _ she wants, but she knows nothing that’s suggested to her is going to fit. She changes the topic from her own boredom to the thing she’d been anticipating for at least a month, now.

“How long until I’m supposed to be at the castle?”

Her mother hesitates. “Are you sure you want to leave the house so soon?”

A firm nod. “I suspected as much,” She says with a grimace. “You should set out now if you want to make it, then. It’s a few days on foot –“

Maki gives her a hard look. Her mother throws her hands up and sighs. “Stay in this territory. Don’t fly anywhere near the borders.” Another hesitant look; a more subdued version of her mother than Maki usually sees. “…I love you.”

Seeing her resignation makes it all somehow real to her: she’s really leaving the house. Hopefully for a long time – coming back without making it into the royal army? The idea is a joke. Maki would never let herself live it down.

It’s mortifyingly embarrassing, then, that a future guard-captain would tear up the way Maki is, but she can’t help it, so she burrows into Tomoko’s side again. “I love you too,” She replies, voice muffled in the crook of her mother’s arms.

“I’m going to miss you,” She says, then gives her daughter a light shove, off her side. “Even those sharp little horns of yours.”

Maki flushes, embarrassed to know she’s pricked her mother again. It feels too soon to leave, but the momentum would all be gone if she doesn’t go now. After a lengthy silence, Maki gives the most un-fake, cheerful smile she can manage. “I’ll try to come home on the holidays! Keep the chimney clean!”

Her mother laughs and Maki waves goodbye and heads back out to the garden with determination.

The castle is a while west of where she is now, so she’ll be flying away from the sun. But she can probably make the trip in a night if she has the energy to do so – which she does. Tomorrow is supposedly the first day Queen Minami’s soldiers are going to select dragons to be knights, and it’s early, but showing up early is better than late.

So…..

This is really it, then! Enveloped in a sudden burst of confidence, Maki releases a deep breath and lets her magic crack and mingle with the barrier around her, until it encompasses her and she breaks back into her draconic form as easily as breathing. 

To the castle. 

* * *

 

Rin thinks she might have talked more if Umi didn’t seem so grave all the time. They’d laughed and made jokes, but now she seems stuck in her thoughts again, like something is nagging at her. Rin imagines a little mini-Umi above the normal Captain Umi, frowning pensively at the real thing, and snorts before quickly covering her mouth.

Luckily Umi didn’t seem to catch it.

They walk for a little ways until they come up to the mess hall,  where a girl with her hair tied up on both sides of her head is leaning semi-casually against the frame, semi-casual meaning “trying to look casual, but also perking up when she sees Umi and then hastily pretending to look casual again”. She has red eyes and seems to squint at Rin for a second before Umi calls to her.

“Nico! Did we keep you waiting?” Umi asks politely, as if she doesn’t full well know this girl was waiting for them. Rin crinkles her nose up at the thought. Weird.

“Not too long,” ‘Nico’ replies flippantly, before suddenly seeming hesitant. She cranes her neck around to finally get a better look at Rin before she relaxes. “Oh, it’s you. Are you running errands for the captain too?”

“I’m going to join the squad!” Rin says cheerfully, rocking back and forth on the heels of her feet. “Even the princess couldn’t get in, nyaha!”

Nico raises one eyebrow, arched line going so high it practically flees into her hairline. “What, did you get into the catnip or something?”

Umi coughs and gets their attention again. “If you will give me your attention….I can explain the focus of our division over lunch. As it stands, we are only half a squad.”

The two shorter girls nod in unison and follow Umi into the hall, where she picks a table off to the corner of the building, and Rin thinks it wouldn’t have mattered if they were in the middle anyways because everybody is too busy talking to eavesdrop, but that’s just her guess.

Maybe Umi is in charge of another spying division? Rin peers at Nico from behind Umi’s shoulder while they walk into their seats. Nico does not look very much like a stealthy person, she thinks. Which is possibly a rude thing to think, so Rin decides not to say anything, and takes the seat next to Nico because Umi is gesturing to it like it’s what she’s supposed to do.

This feels like a conference, sort of. Rin imagines Umi asking her interview questions: so, what makes you qualified for this position?

Nico shifts in her seat and picks at a knot in the wooden table until Umi addresses them, clearly contented to ignore Rin for the time being.

Umi takes a deep breath. “As it stands, only the three of us are currently in the division, but since our specialization will see us doubling this number anyways, I’m going to press ahead with the queen in the interest of getting our partners sooner rather than later. I will be able to recruit more people as I see fit; I would just like to begin our job early with you two.”

“Wait, wait,  _ three _ people?” Nico cuts in incredulously, leaning  across the table. “Even if we’re doubling it, that can’t be enough for us to accomplish anything other than  _ maybe _ a guard shift. In the middle of nowhere.” She says critically, tensing up. “Why is an important officer being assigned such a crappy division?” And the underlying tone being,  _ Why am I being picked for something bad? _

“That’s what I was getting to, Yazawa.” Umi seems to placate her. Rin shifts in her seat.

She doesn’t know what Nico is so annoyed about, she’s going to get to see a real live  _ dragon _ soon. And be friends with them, and brush each other’s hair, and ride them around – how could anyone be mad about that?

Nico is possibly a bit of a sourpuss, Rin decides. Which is okay. Some people are that way. Rin will just need to show her how fun having fun is.

Rin flicks a dried out pea still on the table at Nico. Nico brushes it off of herself and gives Rin a dirty look.

Okay, they could use some work.

“Our squad will be functional even with the small numbers because Queen Minami intends for my division to be somewhat of a test run.” Umi says.

Rin’s shoulders and expression drop at once, aghast. “Testing? I don’t wanna take a test!”

Umi seems to bite back a little laughter. Rin is immediately relieved. That must mean she was wrong – she doesn’t mind being laughed at a little as long as she doesn’t have to take a test. She’s a bad speller. And reader. And Math-er. “No, that was poor phrasing on my part. We aren’t a test run, she simply didn’t want to make a big deal of us in front of the other countries.”

“Well why all the secrecy?!” Nico complains, throwing her arms down on the table and staring somewhat pleadingly up at Umi. “Just tell us what we’re doing!” Rin finds herself agreeing with the sentiment.

She rolls her eyes. “I was going to, before you asked me all the questions. Under my supervision, you two, and myself, are going to be partnered up with a dragon. That should justify the small size of our division.”

Nico’s eyes go impossibly wide. “We’re gonna be  _ dragon knights _ ? Like, the  _ legendary _ dragon knights?!? That’s what you were recruiting for?!” Ohhh! Nico didn’t know that dragons were part of the deal. Rin tentatively un-marks her in her head as a Sourpuss and back down to a Grump.

“I don’t think you needed three questions to ask me the same thing, but yes, that is the objective.” Umi confirms, jerking her head up in a nod. “The dragons themselves are likely also going to be trained the way knights are, so I would think that they’re the “dragon knights” and we’re more of the airborne cavalry.” She muses, bringing a hand to her chin.

It all seems lost on Nico, who is excited to the point of near-falling over, and Rin can tell when someone else is thinking, so she decides to have a moment of her own. She wonders what Umi is thinking about – dragon knights being dragons that are knights? But how can they hold the sword in their scaly hands?

It seems kind of dumb to Rin, personally.

Umi seems to notice her change in expression, because she asks, “Is something troubling you, Rin?”

“How is a dragon gonna hold a sword?” She asks bluntly. “I always figured they’d be more on the magic end if they ever had to fight like a human, on account of their scales and hands being so weird to hold swords with.”

“These dragons are the more civilized domestic ones.” Umi explains. “Most are capable of taking a smaller, human form. I want to train them to use weapons as well in case they are caught off guard without the time to transform, so they can still attack.”

Rin frowns. “But if they’re off guard, why would they have a weapon with them?”

“That…..” Umi starts, but loses speed quickly. She puts her hand down on the table. “That….” She blushes, embarrassed. “…You make an exceptionally good point. I suppose we’ll just have to hope our partners are sufficient with magic.” Umi actually looks kind of put-out. Rin hopes she didn’t ruin a plan, or something.

Umi perks up soon enough anyways – though she has a weird idea of things worth getting excited about, apparently. “I suppose I will just have to train you two twice as much to make up for it.” She says cheerfully.

Nico and Rin groan in unison, Nico finally drawn out of her awe-induced stupor. “Why’d you go and put that idea in her head?!” Nico fumes, at Rin.

She cowers. “Rin’s sorry! Rin’s sorry! Don’t make me swab the poopdeck!”

“What, are we pirates now?!” Nico grabs rin by the collar of her cloak and shakes her, enough to move her but not really _ aggressively _ aggressively.

Rin screams anyways. “AAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaah!!”

This goes on for a few moments and is actually quite entertaining. Rin is exaggerating the strength of Nico’s throttling now and Nico seems less actually upset than mischievous while she berates Rin verbally, but then Umi coughs and crosses her arms and both recruits freeze. “Ahem.”

“Sorry captain Sonoda!” At least they’re unified on that front.

Umi sighs. “I don’t want any of the dragons that volunteered to join us to be out in the back any longer than they have to be. I’ll keep our squad as it is for now and am going to request an audience with the Queen so that we may meet our partners tomorrow. The sooner we get familiar with each other the easier our lives will be.”

“We’re getting ready this early?” Nico asks dubiously.

Umi shrugs. “It’s better to start early and have time to adjust than to start late and waste the Queen’s time.Assuming we all find a partner, we will likely be moving into shared quarters as well. I advise you to pack today.”

They both nod carefully along with that information, and Umi untenses all at once in her chair with a smile. “Now, with that out of the way….let’s have lunch, shall we? I’ll go tell the staff.”

This earns two much more enthusiastic nods.

* * *

 Rin wakes up with the sun and begins her duties in much the same time frame, bounding out of bed before immediately moving to get the food for all the stable animals. She brushes hay off her trousers, the stupid scratchy, clingy stuff, and makes short work of distributing all the food, saving some meat scraps she finds in the mush they give the pigs to give to the cats later, stuffing it into her pockets.

She hums and makes her way from the stables to head for where Umi said to meet her, out back behind the knight’s quarters.

On the way, an orange cat from the garden brushes up against her – Rin hadn’t been there this morning, so she guesses this little guy came looking. She gives it one of the scraps and scoops it up, placing it in her hood.

A smaller black cat does the same. Rin picks it up after giving it a treat and puts it on her shoulder.

She repeats the process until there are four of them and her arms are full.

Nico shoots her a funny look when they meet up at the fence behind the barracks, an old, slanting thing that, really, has fallen over in so many places it’s not really encircling an area anymore. They’re in a green pasture it used to surround.

The horsehair grass is wild and thin; it reaches up a bit past Rin’s ankles and flattens where she steps on it. She’d like to lay down in it, maybe, and make something like a snow angel. Grass angel?

Apparently the area used to contain grazing animals, but they moved the cows and sheep a while ago so that their smell wouldn’t waft into the castle. “How many of those do you need?” Nico asks, nose wrinkled up like it’s distasteful but her eyes linger on the cat long enough for Rin to know she’s really interested.

Rin blinks. “Wanna pet one?” She asks, deflecting the question. Nico nods and pretends she isn’t secretly pleased when the black cat and the calico take a liking to her and she kneels to pet them.

“So Umi’s, I dunno, talking to the people in charge, or something.” Nico said distractedly. “We’re going to go out and introduce ourselves to some of the dragons in a couple of minutes. You got any idea what kind of dragon you want?”

She shrugs. “I ‘unno. I never thought I’d meet one. Let alone ride.”

Nico nods along idly. “I’m going to try and find a dragon that looks really cool, like, the size of a house, with huuuuge claws, and – you get the picture. We’re going to look so cool together.”

“But you’re still going to fight, right?” Rin asks quizzically. “I don’t think ‘looking cool’ is the point.” She says.

“Of course I am!” Nico huffs, finally standing from her stooped position with the cats. “I didn’t work this hard just to hold a sword and look pretty!”

Rin just nods amicably and keeps petting the cat that remains on her shoulder, too lazy to get up. The orange one had jumped out when she came to a stop.

Umi shows up after a few minutes, giving the duo a curt nod each. “Be courteous to everyone you meet, but try to pick someone you will get along with, understood?”

They both do, and set out for the field under Umi’s watchful eye.

…and, maybe, someone else’s. Rin blinks curiously when a strange looking thing – she can only assume it is a dragon – lands and perches on the treetop not far from Umi, head craned at an odd angle, so that large pilot feathers lining its head behind a strangely masklike beak seem to fan out like it’s making itself look bigger. The mask (is it a helmet? Natural?) plate has two comically vertical openings in it for the eyes, reminding Rin of the way classic knights can see out of the slits in their weird looking helmets.

It sits there like some kind of bird, wings tucked behind its back and sitting hunched over skinny legs with heavy-taloned feet.

The dragon coos inquisitively at Umi, opening a beak connected to its odd, bony facial plate, and Umi makes a face.

Rin snorts and walks off.

Dragons are funny.

She can see some, all of varying degrees of size and quite different-looking, but she doesn’t really feel any immediate connections. Not that she’s supposed to, she doesn’t think, but there are so many people to meet that Rin can’t even fathom where to start; maybe someone will come up to her?

Before she can settle on one good idea, the cat that’s still with her runs off and Rin thoughtlessly follows after it, trusting her feline friend to lead her into something that she can expand upon later.

It meanders into the shade of some trees that seem rather clustered together, curling up beside a tree and a boulder. Rin follows suit cheerfully. “Oh! I think now would be a good time for a cat nap too!”

Then the boulder jumps.

Rin also jumps, stumbling back into one of the trees. The cat runs up it.

Having very clearly been revealed as a dragon, Rin peers curiously over at the ‘boulder’, which is slowly turning around. Now that she’s looking closer, the darker brown that she had taken to mean the rock was wet or shaded is actually the color of this dragon’s scales, which are thick, plated things about the size of Rin’s whole hand.

Some of them are also covered in moss and plant life, which is another reason Rin didn’t realize the dragon wasn’t a rock. The scales on their belly are green and a little bit smaller, but look no less thick. The wings are folded tightly and neatly against their back, but Rin can see where they separate, and are the color of a chipped wooden stump, which is precisely what Rin thought they were. They’re batlike and have the thinnest scales on them.

Finally they turn their head and Rin sees their blocky muzzle with a green jaw and brown nose, and two antler-like horns branching out from the top of their head. The dragon blinks surprisingly expressive lavender eyes at her and seems to stare at their feet, looking terrifically invested in avoiding eye contact.

“Sorry!” Rin says immediately. “Were you already taking a nap over here? I didn’t mean to wake you!”

The dragon very tentatively looked up, not meeting Rin’s eyes for more than a moment. “I’m Rin,” She says anyways. “I like your....antlers!”

They turn around again, bumping Rin with their tail in what she assumed was an accident, but was in all truth forceful enough to knock her flat on her ass. Heavier than they looked, for a dragon about Rin’s height.

At Rin’s yelp, the dragon hastily turns around again, thankfully not hitting or stepping on her this time. Rin whines in a low pitch about her ache until suddenly, her backside doesn’t feel so bruised anymore. She blinks up at the dragon, who has a soft, green glow about their antlers now. 

Healing magic.

Huh.

The dragon is cast in a white light for a moment and soon replaced with an anxious looking girl no taller than Rin, save the extra height from the antlers that remain on her head. She’s wearing nice-ish looking clothes, compared to Rin’s dirty, oversized trainee getup, although she seems a little uncomfortable. Bad weather for a skirt? The girl tugs at her shirt sleeves, a white blouse. “I’m – I’m sorry – Hanayo, I mean, I’m sorry – I’m sorry, Rin, I’m Hanayo, and also sorry-“

“You’re sorry you’re named Hanayo?” Rin repeats, dumbfounded.

“No!” She says quickly. “I’m sorry for knocking you over. And I’m Hanayo. And you’re Rin, but earlier I was worried it sounded like I was calling  _ you _ Hanayo and really I should have just said something simple like “I’m Hanayo and I’m sorry I knocked you over” but I got all mixed up, so, so…..” She fumbles for a second until she sheepishly gives it up there with a long sigh. She looks up with a weak smile, wringing her hands together apologetically. “Did you still want to take a nap here? I can leave….”

Rin shakes her head. “Nah, I’m too awake now. I feel bad for interrupting you, but it’s nice to meet you either way!” She sticks a hand out. Hanayo looks at it like it will bite her before finally accepting. The cat slowly climbs back down from the tree, slowly.

“You too.” She echoes, before stating for an uncomfortably long time. Rin is about to ask when Hanayo suddenly speaks up. “Are you really a knight?”

“I hope so!” Rin answers honestly, scooping the cat back up and leaning against the roots of the tree while she pets it. “I mean, I guess I kind of joined unofficially, but it’s okay as long as I’m helping people, right?”

Hanayo draws a bit closer to pet the cat as well, and Rin notes her black, stubby claw-nails that she uses to ruffle up the cat’s fur before smoothing it down. The cat seems to like it, so Rin doesn’t pay it much mind. “I think it still counts. How do you join unofficially though?”

“You hide in the stalls and do stuff for people.” She replies bluntly, still focusing on the cat. It seems to be enjoying all the attention – Rin sets the kitty down for a bit and lets it rub up against them for the time being.

At Hanayo’s surprised look, Rin grins. “I’m official now, though. Someone figured me out and just offered me a spot in the rogue sections because I was already so sneaky. I think Captain Umi took me out of that program though – I’m going to be a dragon knight now. Well, not a  _ dragon _ dragon, cuz I’m obviously not, but, I’m s’posed to find someone I wanna work with in this huge field.”

Hanayo doesn’t seem to know what to do at that, except to look away and scratch at a red cheek, which Rin takes to mean she is embarrassed by something.

“So, you really want to fight?” Rin asks. “You’re here to meet us recruits, right?”

Hanayo bites her lip. “It’s scary, but I’ve always looked up to my mom, and all her friends from the royal army. I don’t think anyone is going to pick me, though. There are a lot of more impressive dragons here…”

Rin fiddles with the belt loop holding one of her daggers, thumbing the warm leather and twisting it until she’s worried it will leave a mark and get her a scolding when Umi inevitably has them do an equipment check, so she stops bending it out of place and looks up at Hanayo in earnest instead.

“Well yeah, sure, but if you’re going to count yourself out from the beginning, it makes showing up a little pointless, don’t you think?”

“…I guess you’re right.” Hanayo says, at length. “I should have at least tried before I came up here to hide.”

She hums an agreement. “Well, the cat likes you! So Rin does too!” Rin sticks her hand out again and tries her best to keep her expression inviting. “Do you think, maybe, you and me could be partners?”

Rin stands for a moment or two wondering if she’s going to meet rejection before Hanayo snaps out of whatever daze she’d entered and moves forward, wrapping Rin in a potentially bone-crushing hug. “Yes!”

Squirming, Rin manages to get enough traction to hug back, but Hanayo is still more or less lifting her off the ground. “We should go find Umi!” She says. “I mean, uh, the captain.”

“R-right.” Hanayo mumbles, and gives Rin a grateful look. “I won’t let you down! Or the captain. O-or whoever else is on our team.” She looks away, suddenly even more bashful. “Gosh, that’s quite a lot of people I could let down,” She whispers, intended more obviously for herself than for Rin. Hanayo titters nervously, and reaches to fiddle with the far end of one of her antlers. “Maybe I’m not so cut out for this after all….”

“Let’s go!” Rin exclaims, before Hanayo can talk herself down, and suddenly she’s grabbed Hanayo’s hand in her own and started running down the hill with abandon.

Rin wants to take her shoes off and really feel it. She’s jealous of the barefoot Hanayo.

Hanayo seems more envious of Rin’s delight, if the panicked “W-wait! Slow down!” is any indication.

Of course, Rin really does slow down, obviously, because it wouldn’t do to ditch her partner on day one, but a little light running and teasing never hurt anyone, so she stays just ahead of Hanayo in her gait, having let go of her hand when she realized Hanayo might have a personal space thing. Loving cats so much, Rin respects Personal Space Things.

Umi is still with that weird bird thing when Rin gets back down, but she’s met with the most outrageous confrontation she’s seen in a long time when she gets there, so Rin can’t help but grind to a halt at the entry to the field and stare in wonder.

That dragon is….chasing Umi down?!

Her captain runs back and forth, while the bird-dragon-thing (maybe Rin will call it a Birdragon. No, that sounds too dumb. She’ll just call the dragon Bird for now) dives from great heights in an attempt to snatch her up from the air with its mighty talons. It lets out a loud screech after another miss.

“Stop this at once!” Umi shouts, like she can Rulebook and Instruct the dragon into submission. “You can’t just pick up the captain of –“ Bird trills again and makes another dive, this time finding purchase for a moment on Umi’s armor but scraping off of it just a little bit too soon. Bird is smart, Rin notes. They’re going for the straps that hold Umi’s armor in place.

“Don’t you try that again!” Umi warns, and Rin almost doesn’t bite back her laugh in time. Hanayo, for her part, doesn’t seem to understand specifically what Rin finds funny, and is in fact a little concerned, or so it seems.

“Do they always do this?” Hanayo asks, seeming uncertain.

Rin blinks and turns to face her. “Um, I don’t think they knew each other before today.”

Now it’s Hanayo’s turn to blink. “Really? I thought that dragon knew her, the way she’s talking.”

“She’s talking?!” And, more importantly, Hanayo can understand those bird noises?!

Well….she guesses they are all dragons. Does that mean Hanayo also makes bird sounds? Rin kind of hopes she makes other sounds. Bird noises are too loud and sharp, in her opinion. She likes rumbly animals. Like cats, or dogs. Maybe bears. Just not up close. With the bears, that is.

Hanayo nods. “She keeps saying, “Umi! Umi! Come on already!”

“Huh.” Well, that puts a whole new meaning to this delightful chase – which is still going on, Rin notes.

By this point Umi is starting to tire, and stops for a moment to rest, putting her hands on her knees while she catches her breath. “Stop,” she pants, “Trying, to pick, me up,” Another exhausted pant. “Kotori…..”

Rin’s eyebrows all but shoot up at that.

Bird (Kotori?! The princess?!?!) swoops down without a sound and plucks Umi off the ground by the straps of her armor. Umi yells and grabs onto the dragon’s leg, pulling her own feet up while she curls into a defensive looking ball. Bird, or Kotori, looks terrifically pleased with herself, and Rin can almost imagine, if she squints hard enough, the slits for her eyes in that bone-like facial plate bending to point slightly upwards, as in a satisfied, closed-eye smile.

Then she drops out of the air sharply, and lands very, very softly on the ground, setting Umi down and backing off, but not before a careful nuzzle in which even Umi can’t resist but run her hand through those rather soft looking feathers on the back of her head and neck.

There’s a flash of bright light and then surely enough, the princess is there, giving Umi an intense look. She pulls in close again, and even though their conversation is clearly private, Rin strains her ears to hear, “Caught you~.” Before Kotori leans in so close her forehead is touching Umi’s.

Rin doesn’t know Umi the best, but she thinks she knows her well enough to know that probably she’s sweating right now. And nervous.

“Let me work with you, Umi. Please.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the chapter where stuff begins to get fun, by which i mean, i got to show u all what a few of the dragons look like,, so yeah look forward to that. Also in case it wasnt obvious nico and rin interactions/any combination of idiot trio interactions are fun to write tbh and I also really liked writing from Rin's perspective bc it's something I haven't done much but do enjoy. 
> 
> As usual thank you so much for taking the time to read this, thank u quadruple as much if u decide to leave a comment, and have a gr8 rest of your day/evening!


	3. Forged Bonds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! i know i said literally last chapter that updates would be friday but i fell asleep before putting this up last night lmao sorry!! thank u for waiting that extra day, i hope the Fun contents of this chapter make up for it ;))

Kotori has hinged the last few days of her life on chance. Well, maybe that’s too dramatic a description- perhaps she’s taking it more seriously than she needs. But the thought of it, of Umi going off without her, of dragons becoming involved in the political scene again, of her mother talking to all of the people who’d served with her so many years ago in her own dragon division and Kotori not knowing – all of these things seem to get muddled in her head and mingle with each other in intricate, infuriating ways. 

She wants to be a part of it. Indulge in that long-gone childish fantasy that some day Umi would save her from a tower, real or imagined, or at least know that Umi is beside her with a sword in hand, and that she’s helping Umi, too, with the spells and talons and wings she has finally grown into. 

Maybe it’s also less than that though. Maybe she just can’t bear the thought of being dragged back into the spotlight in the royal court, or just that she wants to have an adventure, or that she wants to get the chance to see another dragon for once in her life. 

Whatever it is that makes her feel so strongly about it, Kotori has been fixated on this kind of future for herself since her mother mentioned it that day on the throne. 

She holds Umi’s hands in her own, and gives her an imploring look. Her hands feel soft compared to Umi’s, which is an unusual but not unpleasant thing. Umi looks away. “Umi.” She says insistently. Kotori won’t ask again, but she won’t let Umi look away from her, either.

“…I don’t appreciate being  _ abducted _ , you know.” Umi mutters first, eyes downcast, like she’s more interested in Kotori’s feet than her face. 

“I don’t like being ignored.” She replies simply. Which is true: she waited in that tree for all of eight minutes while she waited for Umi to say something to her, which she didn’t, even though Kotori knew she recognized her. 

Umi shuffles in place. “You haven’t asked your mother….”

 She exhales loudly. “I can convince my mother myself, Umi. You can’t keep telling yourself it is solely her choice.” Kotori crosses her arms and speaks in an authoritative voice, waiting for Umi to look up and chance eye contact. “Accept some responsibility and tell me honestly if you’re willing to work with me.” 

 More shuffling. Umi crosses her arms too, defensively. “I’ll work with you on a lot of things. Not this.”

 “But _why?!_ ” She bursts out, unable to withhold her frustration. 

“You could get hurt.” Umi’s insistence that she is delicate makes her want to tear her hair out.   
  
_ Umi _ is delicate. Mikoto, her mother, is delicate. 

Never her – Kotori is the farthest thing from delicate that has ever lived in the castle. She glares at Umi and turns her head sharply. “You’ll get hurt a thousand times over before I ever will on this job. You know that, right?” 

“A thousand injuries on my person are worth saving you the trouble of one.” Umi replies, looking Kotori in the eyes in her  _ stupid,  _ chivalrous way. Like denying her this is honorable. Umi puts a hand to her forehead, rubbing small circles into it, as if she has a headache. “In case you’ve forgotten, it’s my duty to protect you, so I’m going to get in the way of anything that might bring you harm – even your own choices.”  

 “But this is _my_ choice.” She stresses. “I’m going to come with you one way or another. I won’t just lay at home while you’re out here doing work for the kingdom with – with other dragons! With people I never even get to have contact with!” And here the truth seems to be leaking out, “Everyone…knows this is important to me. But nobody will ever _say_ it.” She sighs. 

Umi sighs, too, though she’s not as distressed as she is exasperated – maybe a little resigned. Probably a little of both. “It’s not like we’ll never return to the castle -“

“it’s not even about that, really, Umi.” She cuts in. “It’s all of it. I can’t do anything in the castle without starting another scandal for my poor mother, which I can basically do by breathing, at any rate – I need space. I need time. I need  _ something _ , and I’ve been needing it forever. At least if I’m off helping the country with the guard I can do something helpful for my own reputation. For once, people might – they might like me for this.”

Umi has never been terribly difficult to read, and that hasn’t changed now. Kotori can see it in the flutter of her eyes, the tremble in her proud shoulders. Umi is hesitating. Re-evaluating. She closes her eyes, without making any rebuttal.

Kotori crosses her arms. “If you go off and start a new guard division, then I’ll be stuck at home with a hundred people asking questions about dragons that I can’t even answer.”

Umi is quiet for a very long time. The only sign that she’s awake and alive at all are the rising and falling of her chest, maybe the occasional quirk of one eyebrow. She’s thinking. Hard. 

“Kotori.” She says at long last. 

Kotori nods once to indicate she’s listening. 

“You might have to carry people.” Umi says.

“I’m strong enough.”

“Your magic skills will need a touch up.” She crosses her arms. 

“I can improve quickly with practice.” 

Come on, come on. Last push. Kotori wills Umi to give up already and just tell her she’s okay with it. 

“…If you get yourself hurt too badly, I will send you home without hesitation.” Umi concludes.  It’s not the best. 

But it  _ is _ a yes. Kotori cheers and throws herself onto Umi arms tight around her shoulders. “I won’t disappoint you!”

Umi seems unsure of herself, and avoids eye contact, yet again. “You still have to ask the Queen. I won’t let you skip out on that. And if she says no, I’m honor-bound to agree with her.”

“If she says no, I’ll just sneak out~!” She says cheerfully. 

“That’s treason.” Umi points out, incredulous. 

Kotori giggles. “Not if nobody presses charges! I  _ am _ the princess. What if I’m just acting out?”

Umi sighs, loudly. “I’m not certain that will be the way the queen takes it, but sure, I suppose.”

She beams. Kotori can’t be discouraged further, knowing that she’s secured her place already – She had to push for it this time, but an honest answer like that from Umi means she’s done beating around the bush about telling Kotori her ultimatums. Her heart is pounding in a way she’s not used to, three beats at a time and as though it might skip out of her chest entirely, but she can’t help it. Just imagining a real fight, imagining flying  _ for real _ , not just sneaking out for a paltry five minute flight as near to the castle as she can get - it makes her excited. 

“How long do you think it’s going to take for your teammates to come back?” She asks, eagerly. “I don’t want to leave you alone here, but there are so many dragons out and about that I –“

“You can visit with them, Kotori.” Umi says, waving her off in a way that seems almost encouraging. She’s still sulking a little at being undermined the way she was, but she can’t seem to hold it against Kotori. “Rin has been waiting quite patiently with her new friend while you and I had this conversation, anyways……isn’t that right, Hoshizora?” She directs a pointed gaze at a nearby tree, which has two very poorly hidden people behind it – the girl from the day before and a girl with antlers of some sort.

The redhead comes out first, sheepish, hands behind her back to portray innocence of some kind. “Eheh. Rin didn’t mean to eavesdrop! I just, uh, came to say that I met Hanayo and she’s really nice and I think maybe we might be partners if you approve of it and –“ She cuts herself off and looks away, flustered by the attention of Umi and Kotori at once. “Um, we’ll be going now. Is that okay Hanayo?”

The other girl – the dragon – stands up with haste. “Yes! Let’s go talk about, um, battle stuff! Over there!” She points to some place off in the distance, a bunch of trees a decent while away. 

Rin grins and takes off running. “I bet I’ll beat you there~!” She calls, which is probably true, considering the head start.

“Not this time,” Hanayo replies, not quite as energetic as Rin but still with the shadow of childish enthusiasm in her words. She stands still for a second before she glows, and Kotori watches with intensity as the girl becomes a dragon – it seems so much more seamless than when Kotori tries it: it only takes a second, barely that, even, and she is ready to move again within seconds of having come out of that state – Hanayo takes off and flies overhead Rin, who very passionately calls her out for ‘cheating’ and doubles her efforts to beat her there. 

Unsurprisingly, she fails. 

Kotori stifles a laugh. “I think I’m looking forward to working with those two.”

“I think I’m going to have a headache,” Umi grumbles, and sits down firmly on the grass, evidently resting. “Nico is going to take a while, I’m sure, so I think it’s better that we wait for her like this.”   
  
“Is Nico very indecisive?” Kotori asks, and sits down beside Umi, hands splayed out on the softer grass, propping her up. 

Umi shakes her head. “Quite the opposite. I think she has her mind and expectations entirely made up. I’m just worried she won’t find anyone that looks and acts exactly as she imagined.”    
Kotori hums, understanding. “Do you want me to go look for her?”

“If you want.” Umi says, offhandedly. She seems to be quiet for a bit, before thinking better of it and turning to face her seriously. “You do know you still outrank me, correct? You can’t make decisions regarding my division, but I can’t give you orders that aren’t related to combat or training.”

She snorts. “I’m not asking for orders. I’m asking what you want.”

“Well, what I want is irrelevant –“ Umi starts, and Kotori shakes her head with another laugh before she gets another mouthful about honor and serving the crown. 

“Nevermind!” She laughs, waving her hands in mock-surrender. “Nevermind, nevermind. I’m going to go look for Nico and see what she’s up to, and be back before you know it!” Really, she just wants an excuse to fly around a little bit more. 

Kotori thinks back to how she’d seen Hanayo transform, and readies herself, but it doesn’t take as short a time, and even though it is painless she can feel her form mending – which she’s quite sure she’s not supposed to. She hasn’t asked, really. Just read about it, and from the human’s perspective it seemed so seamless and painless that it was probably true – she’d need to ask some of the other dragons about it.

She shudders as her form completes itself, broad skin growing onto her sides to finish the wings, and shakes herself, feathers brushing against each other and rustling. Umi is still sitting down, trying and failing to pretend her interest wasn’t caught by the show of power. 

Kotori leans forward and shoves her face into Umi’s, wanting her to feel the feathers on her neck and back, and is pleased when Umi appears to cave and runs a hand through them, scratching lightly. “You’re quite vain, aren’t you?” She asks, with a teasing grin. 

With a sharp nod, Kotori jumps into the air and tries to ensure she stays there – the takeoff is wobbly, but eventually, her wings lift her above the ground and she flies in broad circles, looking for another knight, eyes glued to the ground. 

 A hundred or so meters off from where Umi was sitting, near the entryway to the woods, Kotori sees footsteps, sharper vision picking up on the irregularity. She dives and feels another pleasant rush; the wind on her face is heavenly. She can’t wait to share this feeling. 

The woods are thick, but Kotori is a smaller dragon. She makes it onto a branch and, in the limited space, can’t take flight anymore for fear of crashing, but steps from branch to branch, latching on with her beak to steady herself while she takes small, hopping movements throughout the canopy. 

The footprints have continued up to this point, ending up on a small stream where she sees…..   
Well. She sees something. Whatever it is, it’s big and giving Kotori a nasty stink eye, so she thinks she will avoid it for now.

Still, that does leave the footsteps to wonder about. They seemed to end off not too far from here….Kotori looks around, edging from tree to tree in as near a circle as she can make without getting back into that other thing’s line of sight. For a moment it seems to her like the recruit – Nico – has vanished entirely, until Kotori finally sees the glint of armor from within the brush. 

She hops down from the tree and crawls up towards her, shimmying along the ground like a bat, hooking one wing forward then the other, so she’ll stay beneath the brush. 

“What the..?” Nico notices her as she draws nearer, and has just enough time to question before Kotori squirms up next to her and coos.

 What are you doing here? Is what she tried to ask, but unfortunately Kotori knows that what she means to say and what actually comes out are two different things in this circumstance. So it’s just a bird noise. 

Nico regards her with a flat look. “I’m having a stakeout, here. Couldn’t you find your own bush?”

Kotori gives her a stern look and lays her head flat on Nico’s knee. There’s not a lot else she can do, but she tries to gesture with her head to the outside – wherever Nico was investigating. 

“It just looks like these two dragons are getting ready to fight. I’m trying to keep an eye on things.” There’s a loud roar from the direction Kotori had indicated, and Nico grimaces. “Still…this kinda seems like something I should have backup on….” If the rationalization had been there, it quickly vanishes, as Nico seems to psyche herself back up. “N-not that the incredible Nico can’t defeat the odds, of course…”

Kotori choses this time to duck back out of the bush, leaving Nico with a careful headbutt and a low “Stay put” (because it’s hard not to talk, even when it’s worthless, and Kotori can at least hope the intent is carried over) before she takes to the air and flies low until she’s out of the trees. It’s as tricky as she expected, but if what Nico said is true, she should save as much time as possible. 

She should tell Umi about this quickly.  

* * *

“Fuck,” Nico whispers, as her tentative “backup” vanishes. This is what she gets for trying to brag to a dragon. She’d been hoping it’d stick around until something happened or it didn’t – not take off as soon as Nico mentioned her nerves. Perfect. Just perfect.

Nico peers back through the bush, wondering if she can even make a break for it anymore now that the bird-looking dragon got her ‘hidden’ spot noticed twice. 

The dragon closer to her seems irritated, but doesn’t pay Nico’s bush any mind. Secretly, she’s relieved. Between the two, that one is certainly more intimidating. 

Nico had wandered in here after a couple unsuccessful matchups with the dragons in the plains – that one was too pushy, the other had too many spikes on its back to be ridden, the third admittedly cool looking dragon turned out to be an old man that refused to work with “arrogant whippersnappers” – and so the forest seemed to most appealing way to introduce some extra variety. 

She didn’t know there even  _ were _ wild dragons, this far south.

On her way to the stream she was suddenly accosted by a green dragon with thick scales, and a tail lined with spikes that was as thin and versatile as a whip. Its jaw was heavyset and had the teeth to match – it looked like it could chew through her armor like paper mache, and also like it was tempted to try. Sharp spines ran the length of its back, and its body was littered with pink scars – probably from swords, which made her options even less appealing, because it meant this thing had picked fights with humans before. Incredible. 

Just as she’d started to worry she’d have to try and outrun the beast, another dragon appeared and pounced upon it, sinking heavy claws into its back and causing it to run about in an attempt to shake it off. Nico took the time to make a ‘tactical retreat’ and examine her savior – more a gryphon than a dragon, with the wings of an eagle and the upper body of a cat, with thick, retractable claws. Two sets of horns adorn its head though, and one set curves around each of the round ears like a headpiece. Its underbelly and hind legs are also more draconic. An arrowhead tail and a pair of blunt looking, non-retractable claws in the lizard feet round it off...meaning it is certainly a dragon. 

At least, that’s how it works out based upon Nico’s admittedly limited knowledge of magical creatures and the distinctions thereof. 

Those two circled each other like cobras for longer than Nico could think, each growling and posturing towards the other like they were going to attack, but never going for it. They’d been close, before the bird dragon disrupted them, but now Nico is watching them nervously through the bush again. 

The green one snaps its jaws impatiently and Nico looks at her sword. That one looks like it’s less frail than the one that had helped her, so what if they  _ do _ get into a scuffle?

She’ll have to help, right…? Nico owes the red dragon that much. 

There’s a low growl from the red beast, and it rushes the drake. Nico leans in, hoping there can be some sort of decisive finish here. It tries in vain to pierce the other dragon’s neck with it’s teeth, and the drake rises up and scrapes into the more vulnerable beast’s chest, leaving a gash behind and flipping it onto its back, crawling up along and getting ready to strike while it was off balance –

Nico can’t just sit back and watch this! She charges out of the brush with her sword poised, but she knows she’s not close enough to hit it physically. She extends a hand and casts a thunder spell, watching as a bolt of lightning appears to crack down upon the drake’s head. It recoils and the red dragon is able to stand again, bouncing away to give Nico a grateful look. 

She nods at that, and raises her sword again. Man, it’s times like these she wishes she’d invested a little more in training with a shield…..

The drake, none too pleased with the shock she gave it, rattles its tail menacingly and tries to lash Nico. It scrapes across her armor – this time. It left a scratch on the armguard she doesn’t like the look of. This doesn’t look like a fight she can win in the long run, but if she does enough damage to scare it off, she might live to tell the tale. 

Her partner – at least for this battle – lunges again and aims for the wings this time, clawing a chunk off and beating down on the drake with a spell of their own, breathing a jet of flames into its face and forcing it to shut its eyes. They jump off the drake and walk to Nico’s side with their head high. ‘ _ This guy is feral, but if he thinks he’s outmatched, he should run off. _ ’ A surprisingly feminine voice enters Nico’s consciousness, and she does a double take at the red dragon. 

“Dragons can use telepathy?!” She asks in bewilderment, almost taking her eyes off the enemy. 

_ ‘I can. It’s not an innate skill, I just happen to know a spell for it. Did you pick up on the rest of that?’ _

Nico nods. “I was thinking the same thing. Neither of us are really equipped to dig into the thick scales, but it looks like it’s been in fights before. It’ll run away if its life is in danger.”

The red dragon leans close to Nico, chest rumbling in an appreciative purr while she makes herself look bigger with her wings to buy more time.  _ ‘You’re pretty observant, then. What spells do you know?’ _

“A little bit of every elemental tree,” Nico answers in a low voice, eyes still trained on the drake, that is growing bolder by the minute. “I might know an earth trick to get us out of this….” Nico clearly lacks the physical bulk and equipment for this fight, but if she can get beneath it and use an earth spell to make the rocks come from below, the underbelly might have a weaker spot….

It’s risky, but it’s what she has to work with. Mind made up, Nico raises her sword and takes a deep breath, shifting to a more offensive stance.

“…trust me for a minute, okay? I’m lunging.” With that, Nico raises her sword and rushes the drake, dodging a sweep of its claws to attack its shoulder with her blade, leaving only a thin scrape for her trouble. The drake hisses into her ear and opens its mouth. 

_ ‘What are you doing?! You’re gonna die! _ ’ The dragon roars, and bounds up to the struggle, where Nico is wedging her sword horizontally into the drake’s mouth, trying to keep it from closing its jaws around her arms as it snaps and snarls, shoving itself onto her with its paws and scuffing up her armor with a metallic screech. Nico doubles her efforts, but it’s gotten onto the ground like she hoped. Once Nico manages to bloody its gums, it backs off.

It lashes out at the red dragon with its tail, dragging the spines along its wing and leaving a bloody gash, but the red dragon topples it and starts clawing at the underbelly. 

Before either can turn it anymore, Nico inhales and reaches out to the ground around them, willing a spire of rock to erupt from beneath the drake – eliciting a snapping sound from one of its wings, which are thinner than the rest of its hulking form. 

With a whimper, it runs off, leaving the red dragon only slightly bloodied and Nico’s armor only slightly worse for the wear. She takes a few deep breaths and picks up her sword, which is covered in dragon spit and blood, then turns to face the dragon that had helped her. “...Not exactly the way I meant to do it, but you see what I was trying to do, right?”

_ ‘Get yourself killed, maybe?’ _ She seems rattled, and sits down sulkily, shooting Nico a baleful look and then turning to assess the wounds left on her wing and chest from the fight.  _ ‘I’m the one who took the hit, you know…’ _ If she was opening her mouth to say it, Nico imagines it would be a mutter. The dragon preoccupies herself with licking the injury instead. 

“I  _ told _ you to trust me, in my defense…” Nico grumbles. “I was going to have the rocks come up from underneath it and toss it onto it’s back. It was supposed to get on top of me.”

The dragon chortles.  _ ‘You can’t take risks with your life like that. That dragon genuinely would have killed you, and you know it was a near thing. We should have strategized.’  _

Nico shakes her head and sees the dragon go to lick the wound on her wing. She knows some moderate healing magic…not exactly enough to make it seamless, but enough to help. “You’re probably right. But we did chase it off. Let me see your wing.”

‘ _ Why?’ _ The dragon regards her suspiciously, flicking an ear. ‘ _ I’ve been cleaning it perfectly well myself.’ _

“Because I’m trying to heal you,” She explains in exasperation, raising her hands that already glow with the mend spell, a pale green that also emits a pleasant smell. 

 She can feel the drain, vaguely, and knows she’s hit about her quarter threshold for the day. Shouldn’t have been so flashy with the rocks, probably, but Nico can afford to waste some energy on it when she won’t need to be doing any spells in the next few hours. 

Relenting, her companion leans into Nico’s chest and extends the feathered wing for her to have a look at. The wound is easy to spy among the white and brown feathers, and Nico isn’t really able to marvel at the softness of the feathers when they’re slick with blood and so close to a tender wound, but her hands are gentle on the dragon’s wing. 

 Nico is able to feel the skin close up just beneath her palms, and once it does so she can move to the also remarkably well-kempt fur of her chest to have a look at the scrape there, as well. That also seems surface level, and closes with little issue. 

Nico lets the spell dissipate, noting curiously that the dragon doesn’t seem keen on leaning away from Nico just yet. Without asking permission, she idly plays with the scruffy fur of her back. Kind of like petting the world’s biggest dog. “So,” Nico starts. “You’re obviously pretty civil. Are you here to join Sonoda’s division?”

No response for a moment, until suddenly the weight is gone from Nico’s side and a bright light has erupted from the dragon, encompassing her until a pretty human looking girl is left in the same place – well, save the wings. 

She seems a bit disgruntled by them, and her blouse had seen better days before a pair of wings burst from the back. She crosses her arms and coughs, looking a bit embarrassed. “Yes, I’m here to join the guard. I got sidetracked in the forest. You look like you might know where to go.”

This girl was here for the meet-up? The dragon Nico has already practiced and had (some) synergy with? She could cheer!

Nico nods instead. “I’m in that division.“ She looks away, wondering if her sentiments will be shared. “Actually, since we’ve already fought together and all, I was thinking, maybe we should just call it a team and come to Umi with this. I mean, you could certainly do worse for partners.” 

 Play it cool. 

She tilts her head. “I guess.. you’re right.” Suddenly emboldened, the dragon-girl sticks her hand out. “I’m Maki Nishikino. From here on, we’ll be working together, so-“

“Leave the formal crap for the captain,” Nico waves it off. “I’ll be trusting you with my life soon, so we should work on being friends first.” She cracks a grin. “Nico Yazawa.” 

“Alright, Nico,” Maki says, like she’s still not completely sure she’s supposed to be casual. “I’m assuming you know how to get out of the woods, then?” 

Oh, shit. Now that she mentioned it, they did get a little mixed up in the battle. Confusion overtaking her for a moment, the most Nico can manage is the beginnings of an “Uhhh…” before a shout breaks the silence for them anyways. 

“Nico! What happened, do you still need the backup?!” Umi rushes in with the feathered dragon from before trailing behind, and she has a heavier sword with her than Nico did, clipped at the top for dealing with heavy armor. The dragon must have alerted her about Nico’s situation. Huh. 

Seeing Maki and Nico looking very much not engaged in combat, Umi slows down, and the dragon beside her crawls along slowly until the same bright light envelops her and she also turns into a human. “Oh! The green one left.” 

Umi approaches Nico, looking over Maki’s wing, which, while healed, is still stained. “What happened?”

“Maki,” Nico gestured over to her when she spoke, “Helped me out when a wild dragon got the jump on me. They were gearing up to fight, but between the two of us, we were able to just scare it off.” There’s a pause, so after a moment Nico tacks on, “She says she wants to join the guard, too, so..”

“I see.” Umi turns to face Maki and looks carefully at her, enough that even Maki has to squirm. “You’re unharmed?”

“I got hit once or twice, but it’s been patched up.” She says honestly, and sneaks a glance at the brunette (she looks sort of familiar, Nico realizes, faintly, but she just can’t put her finger on it….) beside Umi. “More importantly than that, I want to enlist. Are you Captain Sonoda?”

Umi nods, once. “Yes. We’d be happy to have you, so follow us back to the field and I’ll summon the other two. We can begin tomorrow.” 

The duo nods and follows the captain obediently, though Maki is still looking at Umi’s partner curiously. Nico wonders about her, too. “How are you able to transform so perfectly?” Maki asks, which, wow, couldn’t be the furthest from what Nico wanted to ask, but it’s still a question, she guesses. “You didn’t even leave any feathers or anything…” She mumbles, seeming almost put-out.

The girl laughs. “I’d hardly call it perfect. I’m half human, so it makes sense that when I’m human I look the part more than a dragon would….”

Half-human…..looks familiar…..Nico is on the edge of  _ something _ , but-

“Kotori, do you –“ Umi starts, but is soon cut off. 

Nico puts it together and can’t help but blurt out the first thing that comes to mind, mostly because her eyes have gone so wide she’s amazed they stayed in place. “You’re partners with the princess?!” 

Kotori laughs, and Umi does the same, much more nervously. 

They have  _ so _ much explaining to do.    
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and so our merry band has formed! Well, like half of it has. There's also our first fight scene! while not the focus of the chapter, that was probably the most complicated to write tbh. It's a taste of what future fights will look like, so any advice on improving those is much appreciated! 
> 
> I should also thank feathers and bandit for beta-ing the chapters so far ahah. If there aren't any (or many) grammar issues its bc of them so u should all Appreciate! 
> 
> As usual i owe a blood debt to anyone who comments, thank u all so much for reading and i hope you have good days/evenings!


	4. Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yo! sorry this is going up somewhat on the later half of the day, i thought i posted it this morning lmao
> 
> i can just tell im going to be goin through this chapter with a big ole error comb because i'm bein so hasty in putting it up now, but i cant!! break my streak!!! this makes four (4) weeks of weekly updates and ive never been this consistent before in my life ahaha

The barracks assigned to them had already been cleared of knights around a month ahead of time, but Umi can’t really expect everyone to be ready on a dime to move in – they’d expected the process of choosing partners to take a little longer. Umi is ready, but that doesn’t mean everyone else is.

“Everyone, be prepared to move in by the end of the week. Say goodbye to your families, bring any personal equipment you may have, and so on….” Umi trails off when Nico wanders past her and just lays down on a bunk, kicking her shoes off at the side and propping them up on the endboard. “….Yazawa, might I ask what you’re doing?”

Nico cracks an eye open. “Well, for me it’s just a matter of moving from one barrack to another. All the stuff the guard provides is the same, so I’m basically already moved in.”

“Oh! That goes for me too!” Rin chirps excitedly, and rushes to the bed in the far corner of the building. Umi blinks as she runs past her, and once more when she calls, “Hanayo! Take the bunk next to me!”

“O-okay. I’d like to use that one, Captain Sonoda.” Hanayo asks shyly, and Umi is too dumbfounded to do much other than nod and wonder how long it will be before she can reasonably ask them to call her Captain Umi.

When she finds her voice again, she speaks to Hanayo. “Don’t you have anything to bring with you from home?”

Hanayo shakes her head, looking embarrassed. “I already tended not to have much people stuff. We lived outside, so…..”

Incredible. Umi turns around to see Maki already setting up in the bed across from Nico. “You, too?” Umi asks in dismay.

Maki turns a bright and suspicious shade of red. “I already said goodbye to my family. I’d just look lame if I came back to get my stuff now. I’ll buy new clothes if it’s really so important. For now, the guard should have armor, right?”

“…Yes, we can supply that.” Umi, feeling a bit faint, moves to sit down on the bunk she had already made and claimed for herself and rests her head on her hands, elbows at the knees. “Well.” She says. “I suppose that leaves Kotori.”

All eyes turn to the abashed looking princess, who stands and fiddles with her dress sleeves with such fervor that Umi thinks she may be near tearing them off. “O-oh. Okay, then I guess I’ll try to move in as fast as possible…..a-alone….”

A not so small part of Umi wants to do the proper thing; she wants to offer to go with Kotori and act as emotional support. Another part of her, though, calls in a small voice that this is Kotori’s decision and, ultimately, her conversation to have. Umi, both as a close friend and a high ranking official, is allowed access to a lot of things.

This is different. Whatever kind of way Kotori gets her answer, Umi knows it isn’t for her ears.

So she takes a deep breath and walks up to Kotori, taking her hands in her own and giving a comforting squeeze. “We’ll all be waiting for your return. I’m sure I can find a way to fill the extra time.”

Kotori stares for a few moments, but she finds her confidence again and nods. “I won’t disappoint.”

She leaves the room and there’s a giggle from Rin and Hanayo’s corner – the source being Rin. Umi looks over and finds that Hanayo has a blanket draped haphazardly over herself, stuck on her horns and hanging limply about her like a misfitting cloak.

Umi gives the duo a flat look. “I guess since we’re all here, it’s time to clean the barracks. Everyone, get yourself a broom and some rags from the shed.”

“We’re cleaning? The place is already empty.” Maki says, seeming somewhat miffed about the disturbance. In response Umi just drags her hand along one of the headboards and shows Maki the dust that comes up with it.

“The princess is going to be sleeping in these quarters, they should be respectable. Not to mention our personal pride in our environment…” She says, and crosses her arms. “We won’t have any tasks for at least a few days and the trainees haven’t delivered the practice equipment yet, so we aren’t able to begin lessons.”

Maki grumbles and goes along with it for the time being, just in time for Nico to push a rag into her hands. “I’ll start sweeping the front side, you get the dust off the high areas. Rin and Hanayo are fetching a bucket to fill with water and a mop.” The girl instructs, and wastes little time in beginning.

Umi nods approvingly. “I’ll wash and fold the spare linens.”

* * *

Umi didn’t realize just how little time she’d bought for them until the barracks seem twice as clean as they’d been, each cobweb cleared out and the floors and walls scrubbed with determination, all before the evening strikes.

The barracks seem overly-empty, now, something she supposes can only be remedied by living in them and slowly adding to their corners, but for now this isn’t a bad start.

There are two rows of bunks on each side of the front room, each with a chest at the foot that’s intended to store each member’s belongings. Those are relatively empty too, save for the armor of the trainees – Nico and Umi had changed out of theirs, and Rin’s was light enough for her to use it as casual clothing – and a lamp beside Umi’s bunk in the front of the room. There’s also a kitchen area and mess hall attached to the building. The loo is outside.

This leaves Umi with four recruits looking expectantly at her. She takes them outside to the training grounds and looks between them. The equipment hasn’t been delivered yet….

She crosses her arms. “We don’t have our equipment yet, seeing as the Queen and I anticipated much more preparation to go into our quarters. I can’t reasonably have you spar each other just yet….so I suppose for today you’re all getting off easy. Consider yourselves lucky and fix yourselves some food; that’s already in the pantry, luckily. I’ll be in the study writing drills and waiting for Kotori. Dismissed.”

That left her squadron to look between each other, shrug, and wander off, leaving Umi quite sulkily staring out at the empty equipment racks. Damn…they were going to think she was soft on them in just the first day.

With nobody else outside, though, her mind did wander. The evening air brought with it a refreshing clarity that she wishes applied to her mind, as well.

How is she going to teach all of them at the same time?

She’s always been the best at martial techniques. She can teach a recruit how to use a sword, certainly. And spears, lances, bows and javelins. Hell, even an axe isn’t too far outside her talents. But now she’s instructing on entirely different matters. Nobody has ever taught her proper technique for training dragons, and she doesn’t know the limits or even if they need special instruction. She probably won’t actually see them fight until they’re called in for a situation, but it gives them dreadfully little time to plan. Not to mention, how are the dragons going to communicate things to them without taking the time to transform human and back to relay it…? It all seems so impossible and confusing.

The study is also empty. Umi makes a mental note to get some extra writing supplies, or maybe a nicer inkwell. At least there’s a window. Umi opens it up, seeing as it looks out on the path she’s supposed to keep an eye on anyways.

 

...…...It’d be nice if someone told her what to do.

Disgruntled, Umi starts to write up her normal plan, figuring that it can’t hurt to have the dragons do some running exercises with the rest of them…..and maybe they could spar her, although she has no idea how that would work out…

As she nears the point of tearing hair out, there’s a knock on the door, and upon Umi’s response Maki lets herself in. “Captain Sonoda.” She greets.

Umi thinks for a moment before she sighs and pushes herself away from her desk, looking up at Maki as if to gauge for a reaction before she corrects, carefully, “Captain Umi is fine. I’m too used to Captain Sonoda meaning someone else; I don’t respond to it if I’m unaware.”

“Captain Umi, then.” Maki says, like she’s testing it out. “I don’t mean to be forward, but don’t you think this operation is a little……” She seems to struggle for the correct word, looking flustered, but Umi gets her meaning.

“Lackluster?” Umi guesses, sitting up a little straighter. “I can understand that this doesn’t measure up to the former dragon knights….”

Maki sighs, but looks relieved. “There are six of us. We don’t have equipment, the housing is in the middle of nowhere…it’s just strange to me, is all. This isn’t like what my mother talked about.”

Umi stands up so she doesn’t have to keep looking up at Maki and leans against her table, pushing her plans aside so she doesn’t smudge them. “We aren’t supposed to be noticed. Not yet. Queen Minami wants us to work together, but truthfully, this is risky. If word reaches Akiba that there’s another mixed species regiment, it could lead to….provocations.” She says, quietly. “So we cannot become public until we are without equal on the battlefield.”

“Is something going on up there?”

Twisting a lock of hair around her finger like that, Umi is almost able to believe Maki doesn’t know what she’s asking, but they both seem to know better than that, so Umi turns away from her with a dry smile. “It took the Queen twenty years to find the courage to reinstate this division. I cannot in good conscience call the timing a coincidence.”

Maki frowns but accepts the answer with a short nod, fluffing her wings out for a moment and tucking them back neatly. “Am I going to be trained with a weapon?”

“If you want to be.” Umi replies, though her voice is dubious. “I don’t know why you’d see the need when you’re a dragon, though, if you’ll forgive my assumption.”

“W-well…!” Flustered, Maki shrugs in a high arc and returns to wringing her hair with renewed energy. “I just thought, once I get to the point where I’m a tactician or an officer or something, I should have one for-“

Umi interrupts her suddenly, with grave intensity. “Nishikino. Are you really planning ahead that far when you’ve only just been given the title of knight?”

She looks surprised.

Good. A captain ought to intimidate her charges, at least a little. Still, no wonder Maki would ask about the discreetness of the operation. An officer….the nerve!

Seeing Maki fail to come up with any intelligible or satisfying response, Umi silences her again with a flat look and crosses her arms. “Nico, Rin and I had to work as pages for years. Before that, servants. You were allowed to bypass all of that in the interest of creating this division, but it’s disrespectful to assume that, in some point of your life, you will be handed further titles so easily.” She leans, closer and closer to Maki’s face, so she can see her squirm. “Do you understand?”

“…Yes, captain Umi.”

She sighs and sits down again. “I don’t mean to showboat, I just don’t want to hear you devalue our ranks like that. If you’d said any of that to Nico, I’m afraid she might have punched you, and I’d have to write a report.” Umi hopes Maki can hear the joke in her last sentence, but she may have delivered it a little too flatly.

Maki shakes her head. “I was out of line. It’s….it was stupid, really.” She seems to draw her entire self in, arms folded and wings curled subconsciously, as Maki rubs herself as if to comfort. “I shouldn’t be taking this so lightly.”

Umi hums, one note. She supposes the joke didn’t register, after all. Bummer. “Do you have any other concerns?”

“No. Thank you for seeing me.” With a final sigh, and a hand through her hair, Maki turns and leaves the room, leaving Umi with her training schedule and her thoughts.

The sun had set by now, Umi notes, and shoots a longing look out the window.

She wonders how Kotori is doing right now.

* * *

Umi only has to wonder for another hour; she normally would have gone to bed after she finished the plans, but something drew her to wait by the porch.

Her sensibilities hadn’t misguided her. In the moonless sky, she sees the shadow of something, and the nearer it draws to her lantern the more familiar it becomes.

Kotori drifts down seamlessly, like she’s been allowed this luxury of flight for her entire life and isn’t just becoming reacquainted with it now. She seems happy, at least if Umi’s poor night vision and inability to read her new, hard face is any indication of what Kotori’s ‘happy’ looks like.

Umi expects a landing like all the ones she’s seen before, in which Kotori stops at a sensible distance and approaches slowly, hopping or crawling or otherwise finding some way to near Umi. This time, though, she drifts until she lands, near on top of her, and engulfs Umi in the seemingly cavernous space between her two wings, nestled against the mane of downy feathers upon her breast. Kotori coos and wraps her neck around her, like she’s cocooning her, and Umi is pressed also against her thick-skinned abdomen, the part without feathers or scales.

There’s not really any proper way to communicate. After a stunted silence, Umi raises a hand to Kotori’s face and rubs at the edge of her facial plate like there’s a speck on it. She likens it to running a hand across her cheek, but it seems more socially acceptable this way. “I was worried for you,” Umi says in a measured tone. “I thought she’d say no and you’d lapse into a conniption.”

That earns an amused-sounding squeak from Kotori, and she leans closer to her touch, so that her head is pressed against Umi’s own.

“You took your time, you know. We almost started training without you, but it didn’t seem like anyone was ready to take it seriously to begin with.” Another bird noise; Kotori adjusts her wings and gets closer still, and Umi just has to keep talking. “Was it hard to say goodbye?”

There’s no sound or movement for a while, not until Kotori backs up a fraction and suddenly seems to shrink back into her old self, only there’s no light, or flash or muffling of the vision other than the dark sky.

She’s crying. Umi, unsure how to properly express herself, coughs into her hand, and Kotori hugs her again for real this time. “It was hard,” She sniffles.

“That’s alright.”

Umi waits for Kotori to calm herself, and they go in together.

* * *

“UUUUUUUP and at ‘em! Breakfast first, training after! If your ass isn’t in a chair in the next five minutes, I swear to every god there is -“

“That’s…quite enough, Nico.”

Nestling as much as she can into her bedsheets, Hanayo wonders how much, precisely, she will be penalized if she stays in just a little longer……Nico has moved on to hassling Maki exclusively, and Hanayo thinks that perhaps she’ll get away with another short nap when there’s a light shove to her shoulder, accompanied by an inquisitive-looking Rin.

She creeps onto the bed and blinks curiously at Hanayo while the earth dragon tries to rub the sleep out of her eyes. “Are you not used to waking up early?” Rin asks, leaning over her, perched on the end of the bed like some strange animal. “You should get up soon, or else we’ll miss breakfast.”

She groans, but does as she’s asked, mumbling an apology and sliding off the bed as slowly as she can manage, feet first, and stretching her back as she does. By the time she’ up, Rin already has her armor on, and is waiting expectantly by the bedside.

Hanayo blinks. “Are you waiting for me?”

A hasty nod. “Let’s eat together!” She said cheerfully, striking a pose with one arm, like she was doing a fist pump but got interrupted.

A weird one, that Rin. Hanayo smiles anyways and hurries through her morning, getting into her dress quickly and settling down into the seat next to Rin’s at the table, where a piping hot plate of…. _something_ , waits. She’s not sure what, but it smells amazing. She's not the most acquainted with kitchen food, but she can tell she's in for a treat.

Rin seems to know what it's called. “Hash browns!” She cheers. “You even mixed the meat in!”

Hanayo sniffs at it, and, seeing it’s edible, takes a bite and gives it the taste test. This is…really good! She hums her contentment and endeavors to finish off her plate and try for seconds before everyone else is done eating. “It’s already a little cooled off,” She notices. “Whoever made it must have gotten up earlier than the rest of us.”

Across from them, Nico seems to soak up the praise, which Hanayo takes to mean she made it.

“I thought since for most of you this is your first day in an official army service I’d be generous and make it without any help,” She says. She seems to be trying to play it off as just the normal thing to do, but Hanayo can see the way Nico’s grin reaches her eyes, twinkling with excitement. She's proud of herself. “But don’t expect to get off so easy for dinner, okay? I’ll need _some_ assistance.”

Rin salutes her. “I’ll help with dinner!”

“What about lunch?” Maki asks grumpily, still brooding over her lost sleep, apparently. Hanayo can sympathize with that. Kotori and Umi are minding their business on one side of the table, though Kotori seems amused by the rest of them.

Nico gives Maki a flat look. “It’s lunch, just throw something together. It’s not like a full course meal or anything. We’re on a bread based ration right now, so it’s probably going to be-“

“Yeah, yeah.” She grumbles. “Just let me wake up first.”

Hanayo finishes her potatoes, but realizes with some level of dismay that nobody else has taken seconds yet. She should probably wait…..She twiddles her thumbs beneath the table, and Rin, halfway through chewing her own hash browns, looks at Hanayo’s empty plate and makes the connection.

“Oh! Oh! Mmphshould have morfe,” Rin swallows, apparently blissfully unaware of Umi’s aghast expression or Maki’s raised eyebrow. “There’s a bunch! Take more!” The lithe girl has reached across the table to pull the bowl close enough to spoon _more than enough_ onto Hanayo’s plate for her.

Rin beams at her. Hanayo is too flustered to do much other than start working on her extra food; Umi, on the other hand, is ready and waiting for Rin to tear her eyes away.

“What on earth were those table manners?” She reprimands. “We’re sharing a table with the _crown princess_ , and you’re eating like a – like a hog! Learn some manners!”

“Eh? I thought Kotori was a knight now?” Rin asks dubiously. “Nobody got mad at me for eating like this in the mess hall…..”  She trails off, looking almost despondent. It’s a little too nerve wracking to really reach out, but Hanayo does her best to send Rin some good energy. Beneath the table, she touches Rin’s chair and lets a glow ebb out from her hand onto the wood, so that it might bolster her spirits.

Rin perks up as she feels it, and, when she notices Maki’s curious look, Hanayo giggles sheepishly. It’s strange, how quickly she fostered a friendship with Rin. Even though nobody here has been mean to her, she’s somehow reassured that Rin will be the first to withhold judgement.

Was it because of what she said yesterday?

Kotori, uninvolved in Hanayo’s reminiscing, interrupts. “You know, Umi….. she _is_ kind of right.”

“Are you joking?” The Captain remains appalled.

“I’m the same rank as them, at least on official business of the division.” Kotori muses. “That means if she can get away with it normally, she can get away with it here.”

Umi frowns, obviously reluctant to accept that line of reasoning. “….It may have worked with her old captain, but I am a woman of chivalry and manners and my team will reflect that. Hoshizora, chew with your mouth closed.”

“I know how to eat…could’ve just asked…” She says sulkily, and pushes her plate away devoid of any scraps of the hash browns that may have once been on it.

“So,” Nico says loudly, interrupting the topic, which has veered quite firmly off of her wondrous cooking and, as such, has likely fallen a fair deal in Nico's scale of importance. “What’s on the agenda for today, Captain?”

Umi finishes the last of her potatoes, setting her cutlery down neatly on a tray. “Training. I aim to have Maki and Hanayo spar, as well as you and Rin.” At this, Hanayo swallows, and sneaks a glance at Maki, who appears unfazed by the request.

If she really has to spar, what if she messes it up? What if Maki is so much better than her that they decide she can’t cut it…? Hanayo wrings her hands together. She can't go back home on the first day...but then, if her inexperience is going to endanger someone, wouldn't it be the right thing to do? She steals another glance at Maki and her heart sinks. She looks so put together - she's definitely done this before. Maybe she should just tell Rin this isn't going to work...

Distracted with those thoughts, Hanayo almost misses the rest of the conversation, but thankfully catches the next question. 

“Just sparring?” Nico asks, and the Captain shakes her head. Hanayo wants to sink into her chair. Oh, goodness. There’s more?

“I will practice swordsmanship with Rin, seeing as I have only watched her work with daggers. While I do that, I would like to respectfully ask that the rest of you train in the arcane skills to avoid the loss of time. Kotori is going to need special attention while she works on getting them all down….” Umi muses. “Nico, do you think you are skilled enough to act as the instructor in that instance?”

Nico looks like she’s on cloud nine. “Of course I’m good enough to teach! She’ll be master-level in no time!”

Umi rolls her eyes. “I doubt mastery is on the agenda until much later, I just need you to make sure she has some inkling of the basics.”

“Why aren’t you supervising that training yourself?” Maki seems more awake now, and pushes her clean plate to the center of the table. She looks to Umi expectantly.

“I can’t.” The Captain replies in a clipped tone. Hanayo squirms in her seat, unsure if the tone is out of anger or distress.

Maybe she should ask that they change the topic……

Maki scrunches her nose up. “Isn’t that your entire job?”

“My only job is to direct your actions in combat and see that you become an elite force. How I achieve this is my directive and mine alone.” Ah, too late. “If you all will excuse me, I am going to ready the equipment for today’s practices. It was dropped off in the night.” With this, Umi stands up from the table and pushes her chair in, walking away almost too quickly into the yard.

From her seat, Nico sighs. “Ughhh. Maki, you really need to learn how to read the atmosphere.”

“Excuse me?! How was I supposed to know I was pissing her off?” She says indignantly. “It’s not my fault the Captain has a chip on her shoulder…”

“Umi isn’t trying to be mean,” Kotori defends softly from her side of the table. She’s finished eating and has neatly stacked all of the plates in the center of the table on one side, and placed all the utensils on the other side. She’s playing with a loose lock of hair when she speaks again. “I think she’s a little embarrassed about herself, is all. Umi can’t do any magic.”

“R-really?” Hanayo can’t help it; she thought Umi was some kind of super-warrior, a juggernaut of every fighting style. That’s how her parents described the Sonodas they’d worked with, anyways…

How could Umi possibly keep up on the battlefield without any spells?

Feeling everyone else’s eyes, Hanayo tries to call the attention off herself, shrinking back into her chair. “I didn’t get that impression from her, is all..” She defends weakly.

Nico tips her head up in acknowledgement. “Could anyone? I mean, her dad is a legendary sorcerer. I was pretty surprised when I found out, too.” She scratches at the back of her head. “I mean, good on her for making it this far handicapped, y’know? Although I’ve heard it might be a bit of a secret blessing. My old Captain sparred her once for a tournament. She said spells practically bounce right off Umi. Maybe it’s some sort of compensation?”

“How can a spell bounce off of someone?” Rin asks with a puzzled expression. She’s leaning into the table, and it’s only now that Hanayo notices they’ve all been talking quietly. It almost feels like they’re talking behind the Captain’s back or something, but Hanayo thinks it’s out of respect more than desire to gossip.

“I guess it does kind of make sense if she really doesn’t have any magical ability.” Maki muses, casting a glance out to the door as if Umi is going to pop back in and scowl at her. “Most magic draws on your mana, which forms an external barrier. It’s no good for stopping physical attacks, but affects your sensitivity to other magic. Usually a large amount is beneficial because it lets you respond or tough out magical attacks, but having absolutely no sensitivity….well. I guess it means there isn’t a field to take damage..? But then what about elementals…?”

Nico shrugs. “We’ll find out one way or another. For now we should probably go help her set up.” She stands and pushes her chair in, and takes the plates and utensils Kotori stacked over to the wash bucket. Rin scrambles to help.

“Wait! You made it, so Rin should do the dishes today, right?” Before anything else can be done, Rin scoops up the bucket and makes way for the well. “Go on without me for now-“

“Can’t we just fill it here?” Maki asks, twirling a strand of hair around a finger. “I mean, I count four of us who _can_ use magic...just cast a water spell into the bucket.”

Rin lights up like Maki has just given her a month’s dessert rations, and holds her hand out over the bucket, drawing in a swirling sphere of water –

Which promptly bursts over the water bucket, proves to be too big, and spills everywhere. Rin blinks. Maki sighs. Nico eyes the mop, seeming disheartened. “Oops.” Rin says bashfully.

“The dishes are clean,” Hanayo notes carefully. “Should we leave this room to dry?”

“You just cleaned yesterday.” Kotori reasons. “It should be fine if we leave a little bit of a mess today, I think.”

“If the princess doesn’t think we should clean, I’m not going to argue! Let’s get out there already!” With this, the knights mobilize: everyone walks outside single file, as per Nico’s instructions, to meet Umi, who has arranged a few arrays of things to work with.

She dusts off her hands and smiles. “I was just about to fetch you. We’ll be starting with a 10 kilometer run. If anyone falls behind, it’s fine. I will be jogging a set distance behind the group. Anyone I pass up will have to run an additional kilometer with me.”

Hanayo pales.

“Any questions?”

She raises a hand. “Yes, Hanayo?” Umi asks, looking as if she already wants to begin.

She swallows. “Um, are we permitted to follow along from the air?” Hanayo asks, hopefully.

“Of course not.” She and Maki sink their heads in unison. Kotori seems unaffected, but before they can begin, Umi continues, “Although, Kotori may still need the flying practice….So I’ll allow it in her case.”

“Lucky….” Maki mutters, and Hanayo lets out a sigh in agreement.

Normally, Hanayo would have to settle for crossing her fingers and hoping Umi is a slow jogger, but in this particular case she’s starting to wonder if she should just accept the extra kilometer…

“Sh-she’s gaining on us! Run, Hanayo!” Rin pulls her along.

Hanayo hopes it’s not like this every morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'd be lying at least a little bit if i didn't say this chapter was included mainly to begin wrapping up the introductory leg of the story. we're going to be jumping into some action (and more character introductions!) next chapter, but i can't fling these infant dragon knights into any sort of fight without at least explaining to the readers how combat works, if that makes sense(?) and that process begins in this chapter along with just, yknow, basic plot shenanigans and the moving-in process. 
> 
> I'm thinking i might put up like, some sort of lexicon of magic/lore information on my blog and update it as the story allows. would anyone use that if i did put it up? It's nothing you wouldn't be able to learn from reading, rly its just more for people who are Curious about "what even is magic in this universe". In any case! as ever, thank you so much for reading! if you wanna leave a comment/kudos it'll really make my day ;))


	5. Upstarts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! sorry this is a couple days late, I've been in and out of my house for like the past week and haven't found the time to polish it up and post it. you might have noticed something new about the tags now ;))

By the time they finish their laps, the sun is high overhead, and the recruits are feeling the heat. Hanayo is still catching her breath – Rin is glad that Umi was merciful enough to give them a water break – and, frankly, so are the rest of them. Rin feels like somebody has shoved bellows into her chest. Deep breath in, deep breath out, deep breath in, deep breath out, repeat until her throat is raw – someone is pushing quite harshly on the figurative handles.

It’s not noon yet, though with the duration of the run she feels like it should be. How did she measure the angle right again? Which direction was north?

Rin looks to Maki, who is grimacing and trying hard not to pant. Better not ask her.

She looks to Nico. “Do you know what time it is, Nico?”

“Break time,” She gasps out, having also been trying her best not to visibly break a sweat. Nico grimaces at the rushed way she spoke, takes another gulp of air and says in a more even tone, “It’s break time and we aren’t doing anything until training is over anyways, so why should it matter what time of day it is?”

“Oh.” Rin stands very still, processing, and quickly flashes a grin. “You’re right, nyaha! Sorry for bugging you.”

Rin manages to while away the next few minutes daydreaming, until Umi calls them all to attention by the fencepost. “We will now be splitting up. Hoshizora, I would like you to practice with me. Hanayo, Maki, you two spar. Yazawa, teach Kotori the basics of elemental magic.”

“Um, Captain Sonoda?” Rin asks, brows furrowed. Umi looks to her with a go-on sort of gesture, so Rin clears her throat and asks her question. “Why d’you only call me and Nico by our last names?”

“I’ve been doing this since you were recruited. I suppose I thought a change of pace from your former stations would be jarring.” Umi brushes some imaginary dust off her armor, an excuse to look away. “You’d prefer I use your given name as well?”

She beams. “Yes, please, Umi!”

“Captain.” Umi corrects.

“Captain Umi!” Rin parrots back, and Umi rolls her eyes but motions her over to the training grounds. Rin walks up to her and Umi dismisses the rest of them with a wave.

They approach the shed the equipment was stashed in, and Umi pulls two practice swords from a wooden chest. Rin looks over them with curiosity. “I’m actually trained with daggers,” she says quickly, but Umi turns around and hands Rin one anyways.

“I’m well aware. I would just like to get an understanding of your skill with a longer blade. Have you used one before?” Umi is very unsubtly squaring up across from her, so Rin hesitantly steps back until they’re in a better position for a skirmish.

She scratches at the back of her head with her free hand (is she supposed to have a free hand? Rin is pretty sure swords are two handed, mostly) and gives as good an answer as she can manage. “I’ve used some of the lighter swords before. Nothing big like a greatsword. I like daggers more.”

Umi hums. “So you’ve said. We start on the count of three.”

Realizing that nothing she says is going to result in Umi letting her off the hook, Rin sighs, straightens out her posture and places her other hand on the sword. As soon as Umi makes a move, she does too: she sprints right at her and swings the sword in an upward movement.

The Captain parries and immediately punishes Rin for it, twisting around and slamming her in the gut with the side of her practice sword. Wooden or not, it knocks the wind out of Rin. “Oof…” she whines, and holds her stomach.

“You can’t swing up with a two handed blade. The counterattack is too fatal. You have to keep the blade upright or your grip will be too weak.” Umi settles back into her previous position. “Try it again.”

Rin grumbles but helps herself off the ground and retreats back to the distance she’d started out at. Okay, so swords weren’t the sort of weapon she could switch her grip on.

Time to think more carefully.

Any sort of power move Rin could try would be blocked from a mile away. She’s not as fast with the sword as she is with her daggers, it’s heavier. So she has to get Umi with something faster or aim somewhere harder to block.

She sucks in a deep breath and runs again, holding the sword the same way she did last time, like she’s going to swing up or try to kneecap Umi. Umi looks, frankly, highly annoyed. At the last minute Rin slides on the dirt ring, skidding across the ground and trying to take out Umi’s legs with her own so she can get the jump on her.

Regrettably, Umi sees it coming and body-checks Rin in return, dropping on top of her and pinning her down with the flat side of the sword pressed against her throat. Rin coughs. She feels like she’s going to get a splinter _inside_ her throat if Umi keeps the practice sword on it any longer.

“Clever, but not an excuse to avoid using your sword.” The pressure eases off Rin’s throat, and she rubs the sore, itchy spot left by the wood.

“It could have worked!” She protests insistently. “Just ‘cause you saw it coming doesn’t mean….”

Umi shakes her head. “Instead of pinning you, I could have just swung my sword at the ground and been done with it. It won’t work.”

“But you’re stronger than me….” Rin whines. “If you block me I lose, and if you attack me I lose.”

She shrugs it off, obviously unbothered by the imbalanced match. “I’m training you. I don’t care if you win, I just need to know what you’re capable of.”

Rin sulks, but gets back into ready position.

* * *

It takes what feels like hours of fruitless charging and swinging for Rin to finally accomplish what she’d set out to do – namely, land a hit on Umi. She’s picked up plenty of nicks and bruises from being on the receiving end of counterattacks, but not once has Umi actually made the first move. That in mind, Rin decided to wait until she did so.

It took nearly a full minute, something Rin was loathe to stay still through, but when Umi eventually did take a step forward she was able to focus again in time. Before Umi could finish the swing she started, Rin had sidestepped and slammed her training sword down on Umi’s wrist – hard enough for her to drop it.

She grins at first, proud of her accomplishment, but when Umi fails to say anything Rin realizes her error and jumps away in time to avoid Umi, who’s picked up her sword again. “I’m not falling for that again!”

“Good. I think I’ve learned enough.” Umi looks approving, and Rin straightens herself out and resumes smiling, albeit somewhat bashfully. “Tomorrow I will allow you to fight me with the daggers.”

Rin knows she’ll get a Look from Umi if she celebrates too much in her field of vision, but as soon as the Captain turns away she allows herself a small, celebratory fist bump. Yes! That gives her a chance! She bounds up to Umi’s side while she starts to put away the equipment and take off the protective gear. “What’re we doing after this?” She asks, peering at her from up on her tip-toes while Umi is bent over the supply box.

“We’re dragon knights, are we not?” Umi grunts and lifts a pile of something out of the bin. “We should probably try flying at least once before we do it for real. Inform the others, okay?”

“Got it!” Rin gives an exaggerated salute to Umi’s turned back and runs out of the shed, energy all but refilled at the idea of actually getting to fly around with Hanayo. Sweet! This is the exciting part!

The magic lesson seems to be going smoothly, or at least Rin is pretty sure it’s a good sign to see Kotori casting a few minor spells with relative ease. Maki and Hanayo are practicing on their own; Maki has idly set fire to a training dummy and appears to be focusing on keeping the flames in concentrated areas, while Hanayo has built several large walls of rock bed with no clear indication of what she’s protecting herself from.

Rin whistles. “You guys are good at that!”

Hanayo turns around, startled, but relaxes at the sight of Rin. The stone walls sink back into the ground slowly, like they’re liquidating back to solid earth, and she approaches carefully. “Thanks….how did your training with Umi go?”

“Awwwwfuuulll.” Rin stretches out the word, recalling the numerous contusions she’d no doubt be treating tonight. She cheers up just as quickly though. “I’m going to improve though, so I guess I shouldn’t complain! How were you keeping up all those rock-y things?”

“Oh, um. I don’t have to maintain those, or anything. I just put them down because they were getting in the way…. It’s really two separate spells, not a continuous one.” She tilts her head. “Are you not that familiar with earth magic?”

Rin shakes her head. “I’m only good at lightning, I think. It’s my, uhh….” What was the word? One of the older girls at the castle had explained it to her. Something to do with being inclined to certain types of magic skills…. “affinity!” she shouts, when the word comes back. “I can _do_ other stuff, just not so good.”

Hanayo nods carefully, and Maki seems to tire of her training dummy, so she lets it burn to a crisp and turns to look at them. “You should probably still study some other spells, even if you won’t use them. Do you think there are any spellbooks with the training equipment?”

Rin nearly jumps, startling the other two. “Right, the training equipment! I have an announcement!” She rubs her eyes. Man, it would have been bad news if she forgot what she was asked to do that quickly. “Nico, Ko –“ is it acceptable to use her first name? “Princess,” Rin corrects, but sees Kotori shaking her head.

“Your majest-“ No, still a head shake. “Princess Kot-”

“Are you going to say the announcement or what?” Nico asks, and Rin nods rapidly.

She guesses Kotori is looking either way, right? She’ll figure out how to address her later. “Umi says it’s time to work on flying, and that we’re all s’posed to gather by the equipment shed.” Rin explains, gesturing in the proper direction with her hands.

Nico looks so excited she could burst. She takes off, and Rin starts to follow (along with Hanayo and Maki, who move at more of a walking pace) when there’s a hand on her arm.

Rin blinks and turns to see the princess while the other two walk off. “Oh, uhmm…”

“Please call me Kotori.” She says quietly, seeking out Rin’s hand to give it a gentle squeeze. She says it imploringly, like it’s a massive favor. That’s when Rin decides to stop going out of her way to respect her like Umi says.

It must be embarrassing. Rin looks away sheepishly. “I will! Rin doesn’t mean to be distant, yeah? I just dunno what’s respectful and what’s okay.” She pulls at the straps on her armguard, picking at the tear.

“I understand that it could be hard to ignore, but I’m really…I want…the way you talk to Hanayo, and Nico-“ She fumbles over her words.

Rin decides to help her out and stick a hand out. “We’ll just be friends too then!”

That seems to brighten her up, but as soon as Kotori takes her hand to shake, Rin grabs it and pulls her along to the shed in a gleeful run. While slow at first, Kotori seems to take it in stride halfway through. They manage to arrive at the same time as Hanayo and Maki.

Nico is already pestering Umi for details, and the Captain is simply waiting on the rest of the team. She raises an eyebrow at Rin and Kotori’s joined hands, but doesn’t otherwise comment.

“This shouldn’t come as a surprise, but one of the things we must learn to do is work as a unit in the air. It’s relatively simple for Nico, Rin and I – so these are really drills testing the balance of you three.” She gestures to the dragons. “We need to see first what kind of formations we need, and second if any of you are going to have a hard time adjusting to the extra weight or making turns.”

Shockingly, Kotori seems to be the most excited for these drills. Rin watches her fidget in place next to Maki and wonders why she’s so excited to be used as a glorified horse – which seems to be more along Maki’s train of thoughts, if the look the redhead is giving the eager Nico is any indication.

Umi looks away, suddenly bashful. Guess she doesn’t know whether it’s polite to watch them transform or not. “….Whenever you’re ready.”

It’s all said and done relatively quickly. Rin has seen Hanayo as a dragon before, and Kotori, too, but Maki is a surprise. She knew what her wings would look like, but she had no idea that she looked so much like –

“A kitty!” Rin exclaims in excitement, and is a half-step from throwing herself at Maki’s head when a scathing look lets her know that might be a surefire way to lose a few fingers. Rin has to gush from a distance. “You don’t really look like a dragon, nya! Are you sure you aren’t trying to pull one over on us?”

‘ _I’m a dragon_.’ Maki’s voice comes into her head, a little forcefully. ‘ _I’m distantly related to a few gryphons, but that’s it.’_

She blinks. “If you say so…” Seeing as Maki likely won’t be getting an attitude adjustment in regards to the petting situation anytime soon, Rin turns to Hanayo, who’s sitting not far off and runs up to her to sling an arm around her neck. Or, try it. She’s a little big for Rin to really get it around.

In either case, Rin makes an effort to be affectionate, stroking her in an upward motion on her head. Hanayo tries to return the favor and nuzzles her, but winds up nearly taking her out with one of her antlers. Rin snorts.

Umi clears her throat. “No showing off for now. Just fly a lap around the barracks until you’ve become adjusted to our weight, understood?”

Kotori chirrups, while Maki and Hanayo nod.

Rin jumps up and tries to settle herself between Hanayo’s wings, but worries she might’ve kicked them once or twice. When Hanayo turns her head to investigate, she laughs out an apology and squirms up to her shoulders, wrapping her arms around her neck as completely as she can manage. “Is this comfortable for you?”

She can’t seem to talk the way Maki had done it, but Hanayo makes a soft sound that doesn’t seem to be distressed or angry, and she doesn’t try to shake Rin off, so she guesses it’s a yes.

It’s better than Nico has managed, that’s for sure. Umi, despite arguably having the most difficult dragon to hold on to, has at least found a way to do it that’s comfortable for Kotori, hanging onto the tops of her wings and leaning into the mass of feathers on her back. Nico, on the other hand…..Maki looks like she wants to kick her off. When the older knight tries to stand up on her, Maki actually _does_ bowl her over.

“I _am_ taking this seriously!” Nico calls in protest to an unheard statement.

Rin takes an arm off Hanayo to scratch at her head. “Can Maki not talk to all of us at once?”

‘ _That’s too many people to keep track of! How easy do you think telepathy is?!’_

Guess that answers that question. “Sorry, sorry!” Rin backs off the subject matter, but leans in to whisper to Hanayo, “Do you think the Captain is waiting for us to be quiet?”

They both look to Umi at the same time, Rin comically perching her head between Hanayo’s antlers. “Can we start yet?”

Umi seems exasperated, and is in the process of stepping down to go moderate between Maki and Nico when she waves the two of them off. “If you’re more capable of making progress, then I’ll encourage you to do so.”

Rin lets out a whoop and Hanayo takes off.

Best. Practice. Ever!!!

* * *

This is the worst. Nearly a week into practice, and Maki _still_ loathes the flight section.

It’s not like _she’s_ the one that’s bad at it, either, which is the infuriating thing about it. Nico just can’t seem to hold on in any way that’s going to work out for the both of them, and don’t get her started on the idea of a saddle. When _that_ came up, Maki just blew off practice for the rest of the day.

Umi, at her wit’s end, seems to have given up on the idea of getting them to practice alongside the rest of them while they work on more complicated aerial skills, like combat. Not that Maki’s jealous or anything.

………She’s jealous. Umi has figured out how to use a _bow_ , for fuck’s sake! She’s so good at staying on that she can free up both her hands when Kotori levels off! Nico can’t even make it higher than the shed!

Maki decides to stress-groom her wings while Nico rambles about something or other.

“Hey! Are you even listening?!” Nico seems to appear suddenly, grasping at Maki’s face with annoyance. It makes it impossible to look away from her, which is in turn an annoyance for Maki.

‘ _Should I be?’_ She asks in a bored tone, giving Nico her most disinterested look all the while. ‘ _If you’re just going to keep pinning it on me, why should I bother?’_

“Tch. You really are a brat, aren’t you?” Looking almost disgusted, Nico shoves Maki’s head away from herself. “Maybe I should just find someone else.”

Maki sits there in dumb silence for only a second or two before she gets up and goes after Nico, craning her head around to stay in her line of sight. Nico won’t even turn her head. ‘ _What’s that supposed to mean? You aren’t a catch either.’_

The knight draws in a deep breath. “If you want an explanation, you have to promise you’ll listen to me when I give it this time.”

Grudgingly, Maki sits down in front of her and nods. Fine, whatever, she’ll humor her. But only because she’s curious.

Nico crosses her arms. “This is never going to work if you don’t compromise a little – “ Seeing Maki’s indignant shuffling, Nico shoots her a glare. “And don’t interrupt me! I know I need to stop trying to show off, too, and not treat you like a horse and all that, but – you’re impossible!”

‘ _How so?’_ Maki asks, voice dripping with irritation. She flicks her tail to one side testily, like a cat might. Not that she’s inviting the comparisons.

“Well for starters, you make it impossible to hold on to you.” Nico says with a huff.

‘ _You’re just bad at holding on…’_

“Oh, really?” Nico throws both her hands up and turns around, giving a frustrated laugh. It looks like she might stomp off again (it wouldn’t be the first time) but then she sighs and turns around, one hand on her hip. “I can’t hold onto your neck because you feel like it’s suffocating. You said grabbing your horns is too distracting. You’re worried I’d pull out your fur if I held on that way, and I can’t keep a good enough grip on your wings without risking the same thing.” She lists off. “Forgive my apparent idiocy, but does it _sound_ like there’s any other way to keep my hold on you?”

Maki blanches. Put like that, it really sounds like….

This _is_ her fault, isn’t it? Shame forces her head low, but at least Nico doesn’t seem to be agitated enough to rail on her about it more. She just stares, expectantly.

It’s almost worse that way.

Maki sighs out loud, not through her telepathy spell, and stretches herself out on the ground. ‘ _Okay, so I’ve been…somewhat difficult.’_ It’s a damn miracle that dragons can’t blush, because she’s quite embarrassed.

Nico rolls her eyes, but that’s the best apology she’s going to get out of Maki, so she can roll them until the sun goes down but she’s not elaborating any further. Maki huffs and bends her knees a bit.

‘ _I’ll try to move slowly and be less picky this time, so just don’t try to do anything fancy when you’re up there, okay? I’ll feel it and throw you off.’_

“Understood, your highness,” Nico says sarcastically, climbing on the same way she usually does. But then there’s a shift in weight between Maki’s shoulders, and a surprisingly gentle hand smoothing over her head. “It should go without saying, but I won’t forgive you if you let me fall all the way down~!”

She snorts. Whatever. At least they’re not at each other’s throats anymore.

* * *

They figure it out. Maki expected it would take a while to catch up to the others, but the formations aren’t hard and Nico wasn’t kidding when she’d mentioned previous experience. She apparently used to do a lot of fighting on horseback, so once Maki learned which angles would and would not send her careening off her back if Nico was holding on using only her legs, they were able to pull off a few maneuvers.

She’s halfway through a plate of the breakfast Nico had insisted she would stop making for them every morning when Umi stands up from the table with a serious look on her face. She waits for everyone to settle down, and Maki swallows her food and leans back in her chair with interest.

“We’re leaving in ten minutes to assist the town watch in Brules with a bandit problem. They sent for help yesterday.”

“Are we really ready for an actual job?” Kotori asks, which is kind of surprising to Maki, because generally if anyone is going to throw their support behind advancing faster, it’s her. “It seems early…”

Nico puffs her chest out. “Speak for yourself! This isn’t my first fight. Besiiiides, it’s probably just a bunch of untrained goons swinging big sticks around. I’m not scared of a bunch of idiots like that.”

“She has a point,” Umi says. “Frankly I could dispatch of them all myself. The only reason the guard sent for help dealing with them is lack of enlistment. Namely, lack of any enlistment. The guard consists of only two people.”

“I’m guessing that means this place is in the middle of nowhere.” Maki says flatly. “With a recruitment rate like that I’m amazed bandits haven’t attacked sooner.”

Umi shrugs. “They need help, and so, we go to provide it. I’m leading us there in…eight minutes. I recommend you all prepare yourselves.”

Kotori stands up and starts to collect everyone’s plates to take them to the wash bucket. She’s been cleaning them lately, as a way to practice her water spells. Maki figures she probably also just wants to feel helpful, though.

Might as well head out to the yard and get ready. Nico and Rin are both putting on their armor, so it’s no use talking to them. Hanayo, on the other hand…..

The other dragon slunk away around the same time as Maki, and didn’t waste any time transforming. She’s sitting by the fence looking up with a wistful expression. Maki does the same and joins her.

 **“Are you nervous?”** Maki asks, earning a startled look.

Hanayo cocks her head. **“Nervous? Of course.”** There’s a steady pause. **“A-are you?”**

 **“No.”** Hanayo seems to wilt at that answer, and suddenly guilt is crashing down upon Maki, so she pins her ears back and tries to correct herself. **“Not that I’m saying you shouldn’t be nervous!”**

She sinks lower, dejectedly beginning to lay down onto the dirt. Grass is starting to grow up her legs, does she notice she’s doing it? **“Oh……so you’re saying I have a lot to be nervous about…..”**

Crap. Crap, crap crap.

 **“No!”** Gods, she feels so scatterbrained. **“No, I mean – you really don’t have much to worry about, but I can’t stop you from feeling nervous, I just meant to say that it’s okay that I’m not nervous and you are and I’m really not making this better, am I?”**

It appears that all Hanayo can do at this point is blink at her. Ugh. ‘ _Me and my damn mouth_ ,’ Maki thinks. She takes a deep breath.

 **“Your scales are very tough, so the likelihood of anyone actually hurting you in combat is low. You and Rin work well together, so I’m sure she’ll be fine, too. I understand if you are worried, though.”** There. Thank the gods that’s over. Maki is never trying small talk again. She could have Died.

Hanayo looks away. **“Oh, um…thank you. I’m sure you’ll be amazing.”**

“What are you two talking about out here?” Seeing Nico with a real sword at her hip is almost jarring. She walks up to Maki and waves a greeting to Hanayo, too.

‘ _Just what we’re about to do.’_ Maki replies simply. ‘ _Are you ready to go?’_

“Yeah, we’re just waiting on the Captain now. She should be out any minute with Kotori, and then we can get a move on.”

She nods at that. When Umi arrives, she points them the right way, and they’re off.

* * *

The town is really more of a village than anything else. Hamlet? Maki isn’t sure of the exact size differences between the three, but whichever is the smallest, that’s the one it is. It’s placed pretty securely in a big gap between two dense-looking forests. That looks like a great place to stage an ambush. More and more she questions the placement of this middle-of-nowhere village, but she guesses it doesn’t matter how un-strategically it’s been placed as long as she’s here to help them.  

She thinks she spies a pretty big camp not far from the place they’re headed, though. Is that where the bandits are?

They land more or less at the same time, and Umi, in the lead, quickly dismounts from Kotori and tries to seek out whoever is supposed to give them the briefing.

Maki takes a look around while Umi does, too.

The village isn’t what she’d call ‘prosperous’. In fact, it’s exactly the kind of inconveniently placed middle-of-nowhere hovel she’d expected to see. Despite that, and the gouges in their wooden doors (or houses that lacked them) there appears to be a general determination to Carry On As Usual. Like they don’t have a bunch of bandits breathing down their necks all the time.

It’s respectable, mostly.

Maki stretches out and yawns, much to the fear of a nearby child, but whatever, teeth are teeth and the kid could look away whenever she wanted. Maki might as well slip in a rest if nothing big was going on and Umi was still looking for……

Nico seems to twist around to look at something on her back. Maki isn’t so interested in keeping up her aloof façade that she’s going to act disinterested: she turns around too.

“Is that smoke?” Nico mutters. “Who starts a campfire in broad daylight?”

Weird indeed. It does mean one thing for certain, though – someone is at the bandit camp.

Why wait for them to come to the village? They should just confront the source and dispatch of them all there! Maki hurries to convey the idea to Nico. ‘ _It looks like it’s coming from the camp we flew over earlier. We should go investigate and see if we can’t deal with the pests before they get this far.’_

“Good plan. I’ll get the Captain.”

While she goes, Kotori peers over at Maki curiously. **“You had an idea?”**

She nods. **“Yeah. See that smoke? Someone is at the encampment we passed over. I suggested we have a look and see if we can’t finish our assignment without the stakeout.”**

Kotori cranes her head to see before drawing back with a satisfied chirrup. **“Wow, it must be all of them if they need such a big fire!”**

 **“What?”** Maki turns completely, and sees that the “campfire” has become twice it’s size, just in time for Nico to return with Umi. ‘ _This could be a forest fire, Nico. Still want to check it out?’_

“It’s too close not to investigate. If it’s a fire we put it out, if it’s bandits, we kill them. Easy-peasy, right?” Nico says breezily. “This won’t take long for the fabulous Nico-knight.”

‘ _Quit flattering yourself. I’m the one getting us there._ ’ Maki replies grumpily, but they all take off just the same.

It’s not a forest fire. The whole encampment is burning down, and for good reason: a dragon completely immersed in flames is spitting molten embers all around itself. Maki is jarred by the sight, enough to make landing a fair bit harder than it should have been. The embers fizzle out at her feet, sending only minute shocks of pain up while they fizzle out against the bottoms.

This dragon is a good deal bigger than her. It snaps up a fleeing brigand in it’s jaws, and the human withers to a crisp almost before the dragon can break their spine and spit it out again.

Everyone takes a step back after that.

“Everyone stay back.” Umi says tersely, as if they hadn’t all already gotten the memo that things were spiraling wildly out of their comfort zone. “We weren’t equipped to deal with this so we need to play it safe-“

“Play it _safe_?” Nico repeats shrilly. “Are you joking? This thing just killed a guy like it was nothing – burned him up like he was paper! How do we play it safe against _that_?”

She can’t move. Maki is still looking on while it fights, trying to think of countermeasures. She knows ice magic; it could make a steam that gives them the visual advantage because this other dragon is glowing like a beacon even in the daylight. But it might fizzle out faster than it can be of use, and even then, how will any of the knights get close enough to hit it with a sword?

The dragon swings a flaming tail about itself and topples a few tents, sending men screaming out of them. Rin looks tempted to go after a couple, but decides better than to try it, since Umi ordered them to use caution.

Her help was unnecessary anyway, it would seem. From the edge of the camp, a figure with a sword leaps out with a flourish, and dispatches of two in quick succession: both fast and merciful blows near the throat while they stumbled over themselves in their retreat.

The figure sheathes the sword and walks toward them. Maki arches her back and stands protectively in front of the rest of the team. Kotori seems to take the hint and flies up to provide aerial assistance, while Umi, Nico and Rin wait in the spaces beside her, and Hanayo…seems to be giving her best impersonation of a stature, until a nudge from Rin sends her skittering to the center of the formation.

….figures that puts her out on the front by herself. She’ll give them hell about her status as a dragon shield later, but for now she won’t take her eyes off the stranger for a second. Even the mystery dragon from hell seems to be transfixed on them, pausing in its rampage to aim unnerving black eyes in their direction through it’s fire-cloak.

The human assailant gets closer and Maki can see a navy cloak over leather armor. Their hood is still up, but she’s pretty sure what she’s looking at is a girl. The sword from earlier looks like a rapier – something Maki is quite familiar with as a weapon of many of the noble humans.

Before she gets closer, Maki hisses at her. The flaming dragon bounds up and she gets ready to eat a firestrike to the face and brace with a water spell as best she can, but it proves unnecessary.

 **“We’re friends! I promise!”** The flaming dragon shouts.

If Maki’s complete and utter surprise isn’t evident enough, her momentary confusion extends to Kotori and Hanayo as well, who both falter a little in their respective positions. Umi nearly falls off.

The unknown person emerges from behind the fire dragon and they suddenly extinguish themselves like a candle that’s been blown out. The girl removes her hood and keeps a respectable distance. “I hope my partner and I didn’t intrude terribly much. You’re the law enforcement around here, correct? We didn’t mean to take your quarry. We stayed in the village south of here last night and offered to rid them of the bandits early.” She says it like eliminating a scourge from the nearing hillsides is something to be done casually, over a light meal.

‘ _Tell Umi to get up here before she catches flies, Nico. It’s obvious that this is the Captain’s place to speak.’_ Maki says, bumping Nico so hard with her head that the short knight is almost bowled over.

“I’m getting her, _geez_.” Nico mutters. She doesn’t have time to give Umi a reminder, because she seems to remember herself and walk forward of her own volition.

“Forgive us for treating you as hostile. We did not hear of your offer, but I’ll admit the fire drew us away before we could confer with the town watch.” She seems more stiff than usual. Understandable, all things considered. “Might I ask your name?”

The stranger nods, not making any effort to close the gap between herself and Umi just yet. “It’s only fair, considering. I’m Tsubasa. This is Honoka.”

The previously flaming hellbeast makes a sound that’s borderline doglike, and sits merrily down in the charred waste, waving a spiked tail in the air from side to side. **“What’s up?”**

What the hell?

Apparently unshaken, Umi nods and folds her arms. “I am Umi Sonoda. Why don’t we talk in a more…clean environment?” She says carefully.

Tsubasa just nods again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tsubasa and honoka Hardcore stole their thunder lmao. they thought they were really gonna have a no brainer bandit mission....u are like little baby. watch this *honoka just fucking burns the encampment down* Oh also i'm not sure if it's the Most clear in this chapter but when any of the dragon characters are talkin to each other while they're dragons the human characters aren't hearing anything of substance, lmao. If it's hard to keep track of, let me know and I'll try to make it more obvious by bolding the stuff humans can't understand. 
> 
> **EDIT: dragonspeech is now in bold. the humans can't understand what is being said in this font.
> 
> anyway!! thank you for reading as usual!


	6. The wayward knight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey! Sorry this chapter took so much longer to put up, I decided to shuffle the chapter order around a little bit and had to rewrite some things and move a certain event back a little bit, haha. Sorry to have left you hanging so long. I'm still trying to keep updates within two weeks of each other. This chapter is somewhat shorter than most of the others, mainly because of said shuffling. I had to cut it off early for the chapters to work better together.

To say Kotori is surprised would be a monumental understatement. She can’t stop thinking, even for a second, because there’s just _so much_ going on, and it’s a lot to process. Her first mission, her first encounter with death (the real kind, the act of dying, not passing whispers or visiting a graveyard), another dragon rider, a _huge_ dragon – she could faint, but it would solve nothing.

Before they took off, they did their best to stamp out the fire before it spread too far – herself and Maki with water spells, and Hanayo with small rockslides.

One by one as they land outside the town, the dragons revert to their human forms. The stranger – Tsubasa – and her dragon (Honoka, she’s pretty sure, though Kotori can admit to being distracted at the time of introduction) are flying in front of them, but seem to take the longest to get settled. Honoka appears disgruntled, pacing in one place and seeming to try and knead the grass into submission.

“You can do it. I’ll buy you something to eat when we get inside, okay?” Tsubasa mutters, and it’s obviously not meant to be heard by the rest of them but Kotori caught it anyway because she’d started to walk past. Umi is halfway into the building already, and everyone else is in a hurry to get there, but Kotori stalls.

The fire dragon stomps one more time, then starts to shrink, enveloped in a rusty orange light. It doesn’t look the same as when Hanayo, Maki or even herself does it, but it works…..kind of.

There’s a girl about her age – a bit taller than Kotori, which isn’t shocking, considering the size she was as a dragon – and it’s increasingly clear what a slipshod transformation it was. Wings, horns, and claws intact, she lets out a celebratory shout anyways and wraps her arms around Tsubasa. “I’m getting better!”

A slight nod. “We should get inside. We’ve got company.” Kotori realizes she’s been staring for a bit only when they start off in her direction. Despite her best efforts, it’s obvious she was watching them. “You were the masked dragon, correct?” She responds with a dumb nod. Tsubasa evaluates her critically. “Not a trace. You’re very good at transforming. I wouldn’t have guessed if not for your hair.”

“Th-thanks.” She doesn’t feel the need to correct her.

Just when Kotori is about to skirt by them and make it into the building where, hopefully, she could just observe again, the other dragon grabs her by the arm. “Hey! You were the one doing those water spells, right? You have great aim! What’s your name? I’m Honoka. Tsubasa already said that, right? I figure it’s rude if I don’t say it myself, though.” She releases her rather tight grip on Kotori’s arm and thrusts her hand out in her direction, obviously intending for a shake.

“My name is Kotori. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She takes Honoka’s hand daintily, wary of her nails.

“I don’t bite! Let’s get along!” She says with an ironically sharp-toothed grin, and Kotori can’t help but find the timing ironic, as well. They just got done watching her chew through brigands like a teething wolf, and she means to say she doesn’t bite?

Still, it’s…kind of funny, how outgoing she is. “We should get inside. Your friend is already there, and I’m sure my friends are wondering what’s keeping us…..” She trails off.

“Oh! Duh! Sorry about that. After you!” She holds the door open for her, but doesn’t wait an anywhere near polite amount of time for Kotori to get through. As soon as Kotori is through the doorframe, Honoka is bouncing about behind her, getting ready to shut the door and bolt off towards wherever Tsubasa is.

The inn really seems to function more as a meadery than anything else; a few confused looking townsfolk have settled with drinks into loose formations at tables, scattered across the front floor, stealing glances at the well-armed strangers. The owner, for her part, seemed entirely content to shine up the glasses and Wait for something interesting to happen, listening to order requests with only half of what Kotori imagines to be the required attention.

Umi is sitting down across from Tsubasa at a table near the front counter, and the two are having a subdued discussion – well, it was, anyway, until Honoka located them and slammed herself into the seat next to Tsubasa like a redheaded meteor strike. Where before the two had been talking in hushed voices and only pausing occasionally to gesture or find better words, the conversation is now coupled with enthusiastic nods and leg-thumping energy from Honoka, who cannot appear to sit still.

Rather than stand in the doorway all day, Kotori decides she might as well make herself comfortable wherever the rest of her team is – unlike Honoka, she gets the sense that dropping in on Umi’s intended-to-be-private conversation won’t be necessary or wanted.

The rest of her team are sitting at the table a fair distance down the front room but still directly behind Umi’s, looking interested. Nico in particular is leaning so far she might as well drop onto the floor and crawl onto Umi’s chair. Kotori approaches them.

“Is something weird about that other dragon to you, Kotori?” Maki asks, and even if she’s keeping her voice down it seems kind of rude to say it so close by.

“Not as far as I can tell,” She answers honestly. “We talked outside. She seems friendly.”

Maki gives a disgruntled noise and pushes back in her chair while Rin pokes around her head. “Where’d your wings go? You have horns this time.”

“It’s a work in progress, okay?” Maki says snippily. “I won’t be satisfied until I can get my human form just right.”

Nico whistles and raises an eyebrow. “That’s a sort of weird attitude coming from you. Aren’t you like, super proud of being a dragon?”

She crosses her arms. “I’m also proud of my magical abilities, and there is a flaw in my transformation spell, which clearly means I haven’t mastered it yet. If I can’t do it perfectly, I might as well not be doing it at all.”

“To each their own, I guess. I’d be happy just knowing I learned the damn thing. How about you, Hanayo?” Nico directs the conversation over to the earth dragon.

Hanayo hums and drums her fingers on the table while she tries to think of a good response. “I guess I don’t put much thought into it. Between the five of us, I, um…..I spent much more time as a dragon than in this form. My family and I are nomadic, you see……we tend to the plants wherever we’re visiting and make sure the forests are healthy. When you live outside that much, it’s much easier to be a dragon with protection from the elements than in a human body that gets cold and injured. So I don’t mind if my transformation is a little rough around the edges. I’m just glad I remembered how to do it in time to make friends with Rin.” She admits shyly.

This, of course, prompts a prolonged hug from Rin, and Hanayo sinks into her chair further, flushed with embarrassment. Nico tips her head in Kotori’s direction clearly indicating that she’d like to hear her thoughts, and she’s forced to think over her own stance.

She…..

If anything, she loved the spell itself. It was always oddly thrilling for her, but maybe that’s just the lure of doing something she’s not allowed to do. It was always the big question, the thing on the lips of every visiting diplomat from her childhood, every wandering noble keeping their distance when passing her in the yard.

 _Is she….?_ They would mutter in passing, not finishing their sentence in anything but thoughts. _The very idea of the Queen having children with…._

Before he died, her father took her out to the garden and sat her on the stone bench. He asked if she wanted the rumors to be true. Kotori isn’t sure what she told him, but he taught her what to do if she ever wanted to check……

“Hey, uh, earth to Kotori?” Nico looks worried. “Are you okay?” She takes her hands in hers, placatingly. “I was just trying to make small talk. We’ll talk about something else.”

She winces. Must have been spacing out. “My apologies. I got distracted. What was – what was the question?”

“Doesn’t matter. Looks like something more interesting is headed this way.” Nico jerks her thumb in the direction of the other table, where Umi is getting ready to stand up while Tsubasa flags the barkeep over.

Everyone sits up a little bit straighter in their seat. Kotori cocks her head. “Did you learn anything?”

“Not much.” Umi sighs and drops into a chair with little of her usual decorum. “Tsubasa is a traveling mercenary, and she claims to be an ex dragon knight, which I have no doubts about, in truth. It explains her talent in working with Honoka. What worries me is how cagey she is about her birthplace. By my best guesses, she’s from Akiba….which is problematic for us, to say the least.”

“Why’s that?” Rin asks curiously, and perks up from where she’s been nearly lying down on the table. She props her head up with her hands and looks inquisitively up at Umi at the head of the table. “As long as they helped us, shouldn’t running into them be a good thing?”

Umi shakes her head. “Tsubasa claims to be a deserter, but if she has second thoughts and takes news of our team back to Akiba, there could be political consequences to face. Part of the reason our group is so small in the first place was to avoid notice from them.”

Kotori can feel her heart start to sink just thinking about it. Rin doesn’t seem to understand the rub, but Kotori grew up learning about this sort of situation, so perhaps it’s best she explains it. “Rin. The reason we’re so worried about their notice is because we’re only neutral with Akiba. We’d had a war a couple decades ago – both of us had to disband our standing armies temporarily in order to work on a peace agreement. We reached a consensus, but only under the condition that both nations permanently disband any units with dragons. The destruction was too much to risk a second time. Akiba only waited about 7 years before we received news of their new dragon knights….but my mother waited all the way up until now. We’re weaker at the moment, so if the wrong person up there hears about this….” She trails off, frowning. It would be bad, is the point.

Nico grimaces. “There goes the country. Yikes.” Kotori nods, but Nico seems agitated. “Well, they broke it first! Who are they to get upset?!”

“It doesn’t matter what they did. We’re playing the defense, here.” Maki crosses her arms, scowling. “Besides, I hear they’re pretty scummy about how they treat their dragons there anyway.”

Really? This is news to her…but then again, Kotori understands that her tutor might have avoided the subject entirely. “Maki, what do you mean?”

She huffs. “I mean they might as well be horses – worse than that, if I’m honest. They keep them in bunkers and only let them out to patrol…..I heard sometimes they use magic to piss them off before they go on a mission so they’ll be meaner. They get dragons for the guard by going out and taking the young from nearby wild dragons and training them that way.” Her eyes narrow. “Why would people like that honor a peace treaty?”

“You can’t be serious!” Kotori exclaims, before she can help herself.

Maki looks up like she’s going to say something else, but her eyes widen and she cuts herself off just short of opening her mouth. Kotori wants to ask, but her question is soon answered.

“I wish she wasn’t.” Kotori turns around and finds Tsubasa standing at the head of the table, next to a sheepishly silent Umi. She must have walked up in the middle without anyone realizing, and by the time Umi realized she was there, it was already obvious they were gossiping about her, so she couldn’t tell them to knock it off.

….Oops. Kotori can feel her ears burning, and she has no doubt everyone else is equally embarrassed.

Tsubasa sighs, loudly. “Look, I don’t care that much if you’re going to talk amongst yourselves. I can’t _stop_ you, anyway. But I deserted, mostly for the reasons your redhead friend was discussing.”

“They really do that sort of thing…?” Hanayo asks timidly.

She nods. “I’m not saying it’s right, but a lot of people were angry after the war. Your kingdom’s dragon knights were legendary – too legendary. Everyone who’d lost anyone in the war was convinced that their beloveds must have fallen under the fang or claw of a dragon, and they resented them for it. The current system in Akiba…..I guess it’s just their way of taking their frustrations out on the source.“

Tsubasa shrugs, and seems to turn her attention back to where she’d been sitting before. Honoka is there with a plate full of bread and a sweet roll shoved off to the side. “I took Honoka and ditched about a year ago.”

Clearing her throat, Umi looks over to the mercenary. “I apologize on my team’s behalf for speaking behind your back in this manner…was there anything in particular you approached us to discuss?”

She waves it off. “Don’t apologize. I was having Honoka eavesdrop on you anyway.” Tsubasa says breezily. “So I don’t mind terribly.” Umi looks rather indignant at the idea of being spied on, but she doesn’t have the time to speak. “I heard you were new at this and thought I’d offer my help. You didn’t look too bad back at the encampment, but there are a few things you can practice. I know plenty of training exercises, and you won’t find a better person than Honoka to teach you how to avoid hitting your own team with large scale attacks.”

“How do I know you aren’t a spy? You just admitted yourself to listening in on us, and deserting your former employers.” Umi asks critically, eyes narrowed.

Tsubasa responds with an exaggerated shrug, throwing her hands in the air with the motion. “I suppose you’re right. Why should you trust me? Although……I think it’d be a good deal harder to sneak off to my home country with news of your team if I were, say, sleeping in the same room as you…..So maybe it’s easier for me to be a spurned mercenary with a dragon.”

Umi grits her teeth. Tsubasa keeps going, smugly.

“Frankly, all _I’d_ be getting out of the deal is a place to sleep, and that’s when I’m offering insight into Akiba’s training, improvement for your own squadron, and an able body with a sword….it’s a one sided deal, I guess.”

“I get it,” Umi sighs loudly. “You’ve made your point. Consider yourself welcomed, Tsubasa. We make for the barracks in a few hours. I’m getting a beer first.” She scowls down at the table. “I’m going to need it…” Umi says faintly.

Kotori can’t help but laugh at the defeatist air suddenly clouding around her friend. She gives her a comforting round of pats on her shoulder. “Cheer up, Umi! If you keep scowling like that, your face might get stuck that way~!”

Umi just grunts and settles in further in her chair. Kotori concludes that this is the end of their conversation and moves onto bigger things; Nico hasn’t wasted any time at all in moving to grill Tsubasa on anything and everything, and it’s probably a good idea to make sure she doesn’t push it too far.

She approaches in what she hopes is a quiet fashion, but the attention is drawn to her nonetheless.

Surprisingly, Tsubasa bows. Kotori’s shoulders shoot up. “I’m sorry?”

“I didn’t realize you were the princess until Honoka relayed it to me,” She explains sheepishly, raising her head. “Since I’m not from this country I thought…well, diplomatically speaking, you could have my head if I didn’t bow.” Tsubasa laughs, still seeming embarrassed at the perceived social misstep. “I don’t mean to disrespect your wishes, either, though. If you’d rather I not, I’ll cut the formality.”

“I’d appreciate it.”

She nods. Nico clears her throat. “If you don’t _mind_ , I was asking about your fight with the bandits.”

“If you call that mess a fight, I worry your team is even less trained than I thought.” Tsubasa says lazily. “It was pretty one-sided, if you can recall.”

“You don’t need to be an ass about it….” Nico grumbles. “I wanted to know what your fighting style is like. You’ve got a rapier, right? Can you use other weapons?”

“Sure.” Tsubasa shrugs her shoulders back, and leans up against the wall, feigning a casual appearance. “I can use the standard array of swords, a bow, maybe some daggers. The rapier is just the weapon I’ve got on me right now.”

Nico hums. “Then we should spar.”

“What, _now_?” Tsubasa is incredulous, and raises her eyebrows. “I just got finished fighting. You saw what I can do.”

That answer doesn’t satisfy the knight, who crosses her arms. “Yeah, I saw what you can do, but you also stomped the bandits we were sent in to dispose of!” She says, irritably. “I was looking forward to that, so if you beat them all, it just means that the only way to prove I could’ve taken them is to take you on!”

“Not interested.” With that, Tsubasa disengages, smoothing her hair over with one hand like it was messy to begin with. She tilts her head over to Nico in parting. “Try me in a few days, then we’ll talk.”

“Wh – you can’t just – Hey, get back here! I’m not finished with you!” Sputtering, Nico sets after Tsubasa, who seems to be making her way for Umi and Maki at the main table.

Rin and Hanayo are both hanging around Honoka, so Kotori decides to go spend some time with them.

The redheads of the bunch seem to be getting along like a house on fire while Hanayo is on standby, listening with interest but without the desire to interrupt as they prattle on to each other in rapidfire sentences. Kotori slides along next to her and they exchange a look before redirecting their attention on the other two.

“-as so cool how you did that big spinning thing with the encampment and the fire and –“ Rin repeatedly taps the surface of a nearby counter with her hand, like the only way to actually convey her enthusiasm is through eagerly punching something. “And Umi says you’re both gonna be in our group so I wanna learn how to do fire spells too!”

Seemingly entirely undisturbed by or unaware of the limitations that might come between her efforts to teach _massive fire spells_ to a human with no affinity for the element, Honoka gets excited in response. “Hell yeah!” She flashes a big grin. “I’ll show you everything I’ve got!”

“And I’ll show you lightning spells!”

“Hell yeah!”

Beside her, Hanayo sighs. “I think we’re going to be putting out a lot of fires….” She says unenthusiastically, but she shoots Kotori a weary smile. It kind of reminds her of a tired family member, preparing to clean up after an endearing but messy child. Resigned.

Kotori laughs. “I’m sure we’ll manage.”

* * *

The flight home is uneventful in comparison to the live nerves everybody had been demonstrating on the way there. Umi was less fidgety, and would occasionally even deign to rest her head near the crook of Kotori’s neck – if she didn’t know any better, she’d guess that she was getting tired, but the more likely occasion was that Umi was deep in thought and not enjoying the view.

Honoka was certainly an…interesting presence behind her, but not unwelcome, and she only tried to make conversation a couple of times.

“ **So you’re kinda small even like this, huh? I bet I could fit you on my back if you ever got tired of flying.”** She remarked, and Kotori might’ve taken offense to the implication that she wasn’t willing to work as hard if Honoka hadn’t said it in such a friendly voice.

**“I appreciate it, but I quite like this. I could drift around all day if I could. Everything looks so nice from up here.”**

**“Bah, I wish I felt the same. I like stomping around a little more. There aren’t any fun animals up here or anything……I’m too slow to catch any birds.”** Honoka sighs.

It’s…definitely one way of looking at it. Kotori’s not sure if Honoka’s definition of a good time begins and ends with the availability of food or something to talk to, or if she’s simply had much more of a taste of flying than Kotori has – either way, she snickers. **“We’re almost home, anyway. Looks like you’ll have time to stomp around soon enough.”**

 **“Oh!!! Is this little cabin the base? Oh!! I wanna see!”** Upon seeing the barracks close by, Honoka rockets ahead of the other members, startling Maki in the lead into jerking away and trying to correct her course, nearly sending Nico careening off her back to death.

"Honoka, what's gotten into you?!" Tsubasa seems to be trying to manage it herself, but it's a bit late for that. Honoka already spooked Maki, and Nico is grasping for dear life at the area where Maki's right wing meets her shoulder blade.

Understandably, she screams. Maki hisses. **“Ow, fuck –“** She tries to counterbalance, but Nico’s not exactly firm on her back anymore. She slides the other way and, obviously, pulls harder on Maki’s wing. **“OW,”** Maki starts again, and Kotori can sense that this will be the source of a lasting headache if something isn’t done.

She puts on some speed and tries to make sure Umi’s keeping her grip even though she’s pushing a little harder with each wingstroke, and flies over Maki, plucking Nico off her back with little issue.

The relief is near instant – well, for Maki, anyway. **“Thanks,”** She says lamely.

Nico is clinging to Kotori’s leg quite tightly, but she gets the feeling she won’t be enjoying any of their flights for some time now. Kotori travels the rest of the way to the barracks slowly, and Maki is waiting for them outside, looking apologetic.

“I didn’t see her coming up behind me,” Maki starts, and reaches for Nico’s shoulder, but the knight seems to recover from her petrification just in time to shove her hand away. “Nico -!”

The knight storms off, but not before giving her a nasty scowl. If looks could kill, Maki wouldn’t be in terribly good condition. Umi dismounts and Kotori turns back in time to see her set after Nico in a hurry.

Beside her, Honoka whistles.

“What’s with her? Did a bee fly into her mouth or something?”

Kotori sighs. “This is really not the time, Honoka.”

If looks could kill, Honoka would be dead too, if the face Maki is making is any indication.

Kotori suddenly has much less confidence that their first night is going to go over smoothly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> y i k e s the team is bigger but at What Cost....jokes aside im ready to have Fun with Honoka and Tsubasa. also dont ask me about tsubasa's character even once bc i have NO idea im going off of my very Strong impressions from her in the show and wild guesswork + the need for a charming rogue character in my fantasy story stop judging m,e,,,,, she shows up like 3 times in the show ok who knows whats up with her for real vs what's a gross oversimplification the fanbase spins
> 
> lmao really though as always I'd love to hear what you think! I know this one took a little longer so please tell me if i bungled it by moving some things around or if anyone seems off or something doesn't make logical sense with the stuff i've already told u about, etc! and vice versa,,,,,, if u liked it you should hit me up ;)) hope you all have a good day and thanks for reading!


	7. Divide

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I LIVED BITCH
> 
> hey!! it's been a couple of months but my determination to complete this story hasn't faltered! It actually faltered so little, i wrote 8,000 words for this chapter! Which is.......like twice the usual amount lmfao. It's........long. Depending on your reading speed u might wanna take a break oops. But I'm back! If you're reading this, thank you so much for dealing with the wait! I hope the Big Chapter helps make up for it, even just a little.

Honoka and Tsubasa do an excellent job of meshing with the rest of their small unit. It’s with no small sense of awe that Hanayo watches the two demonstrate training maneuvers and show the ways in which their two styles can complement each other, despite the difference in size and species.

The fire dragon is always smiling, and while Tsubasa seems less outgoing, she does always have something pleasant to say whenever she manages to get a word with Hanayo or Rin, and anytime Honoka is front and center the brunette observes her companion contentedly.

It’s a comfortable atmosphere the two create; the dining hall is a bit more full now, and Honoka is loud enough to make up for the times Rin has too much food in her mouth to fill the silence. Tsubasa is surprisingly knowledgeable about customs and politics in Otonoki. She, Umi, Maki and of course Kotori can carry a long conversation about it, if they aren’t interrupted. In the evenings, Honoka lights the fire in the bedroom and cheerfully talks with the rest of the team about her old exploits.

She’s....warm. Physically and in personality. It makes Hanayo feel at ease.

Hanayo yawns and makes her way into the breakfast hall, unaided by Rin this morning because the redhead got distracted and moved away from the bed. She’s sitting across from Honoka at the table now, nodding eagerly with her mouth stuffed full of eggs while Honoka makes sweeping hand motions - she thinks the conversation is about fighting? - and talks with her mouth full.

“And then, just at the very last second, I saw the fell beasts descending upon the village - ten, no, _twenty_ basilisks, about to use _alllllllll_ the townsfolk as toothpicks -”

Beside Honoka, Tsubasa is quietly eating her own breakfast, a bowl of oatmeal, and only occasionally correcting one of Honoka’s statements. “There were only two basilisks.”

Kotori and Umi are sitting across from each other as well, and the team leader is watching in annoyance (and with a hint of interest? Although she’s trying hard not to show it, the knight seems to find the story engaging, which gives Hanayo a good laugh).

Kotori watches with amusement, and Hanayo slides into the seat between Rin and Maki.

While Honoka and Tsubasa are getting along with everyone just fine, some of their other members......

Maki sulks over her oatmeal, and Hanayo puts a sympathetic hand on her shoulder.

Maki and Nico have been in a really bad fight. Hanayo was nervous around the two of them the first time they had an argument about flying, but this time it’s even worse. Nico will hardly look at the dragon she’d partnered up with, let alone agree to go on her back.

Hanayo pours herself some oatmeal out of the bowl in the middle of the table. “Still no good....?” She asks reservedly, and Maki leans against the table and sighs even louder, propping her head up with a hand. “Maybe she’s just waiting for you to talk to her,” The earth dragon offers her encouragement. “Do you think she’d stop and listen if you....”

Trailing off at the tight frown Maki is making, Hanayo tilts her head, an unspoken prompt for answers. The other girl explains. “I’ve already tried to talk to her about it three times this week. She won’t hear it. Most of the time she just keeps walking!” Maki slams the table. “Stubborn little...!”

“Shhh!” Hanayo quickly quiets the other dragon down, not wanting the attention of the room on them. Luckily Nico isn’t in here right now, but she thought she saw Rin pause to look their way, and she doesn’t want her to know Maki has this problem.

Is it mean to think Rin shouldn’t get involved? Hanayo sometimes worries she’s going to make their partnership weaker by not telling her these things, but she’s also worried that Rin won’t have the tact to keep Maki’s confidences a secret from Nico. Maybe she’ll fill her in tonight, and just be very careful?

All the same, when Rin looks away again, Hanayo gives Maki the best advice she can muster, thinking back to things her own mother might have said. “I know you’re upset, but Nico has a reason for feeling the way she does. People always do.”

Maki sighs again, slumping in her seat. “I made a _mistaaaake_......Why can’t she get over it already? It wasn’t even my damn fault....”

“I’m sure she’s just scared....” Hanayo mumbles. She doesn’t talk to Nico as much, but the girl doesn’t seem so unreasonable to her that this trivial of a problem would cause a weeks-long hold up on all of her training and relationship with Maki.

She’s tried to get close enough to get a read on her, but Nico has been cagey the past week, always making excuses and ducking out when she can to train some more. Getting a hand onto her, let alone for long enough to use her empath skills, is hard.

From what Hanayo’s gathered from a distance, though, it almost feels like Nico is more sad than angry..... And the anger is all being taken out on the  training dummies, if the amount of repairs they’ve been needing is any indication.

Umi tried to intervene two days ago, but it just made Nico _and_ Maki storm out looking annoyed, so she decided to let the two talk it out under threats of discipline if they didn’t come to an agreement by the end of the week.

Seemingly content to dive into her food and ignore the issue at hand for now, Maki lets the conversation slide away. Hanayo redirects her attention to Tsubasa.

The experienced knight has always acts laid-back, but in training she’s proven to be just as much of a strict teacher as Umi is. All her maneuvers seem effortless.....just how long has she been doing this kind of work?

She doesn’t mean to stare, but Tsubasa catches Hanayo’s eyes before she can look away. “Need something?”

“U-uhhm!” Startled, Hanayo squirms in her seat. She looks down at her hands, wringing them so that the attention might be taken off of her blush. “I was just, um, wondering how you came up with all your training exercises....”

Tsubasa laughs. “That all? I already told you, I was a dragon knight in Akiba. I didn’t invent all of these.....and really, most of them are repurposed from what Otonoki’s knights used to do. The area attack practice is the only one I came up with myself.” She muses.

“You’re too modest!” Hanayo protests, perhaps a bit loudly. The rest of the table looks at her, and Tsubasa blinks. Hanayo feels herself pale. Happy thoughts, happy thoughts.... Taking a deep breath, she tries to recover. “Knowing how to avoid hitting your teammates with a full power attack is impressive....if we didn’t have a way to safely practice it, we’d either be attacking with a handicap all the time or hurting our friends....” She trails off.

The thought of accidentally catching one of her more frail companions in a rockslide is sobering. They don’t have scales, just armor. It’s why Hanayo has been trying to refine her magic with Nico and Tsubasa.

The thought of hurting one of her friends....it makes her so _uneasy_. Her stomach flutters just thinking about it. They’re so vulnerable..... That’s why she needs to make sure she checks before using magic near them.

“Well, I’m flattered you see it that way,” Tsubasa says after some time, having paused to eat some more of her breakfast. “I’m inclined to agree that wiping out the enemy isn’t worth it if you catch your own teammates in the attack.”

Hanayo sinks back into her chair with a relieved sigh.

Kotori speaks up. “I don’t mean to ask silly questions, but....is magic really that powerful?” This seems to pique Umi’s interest, causing her to sit up straighter, although she doesn’t say anything.  “I mean... I’ve never seen anyone cast a spell strong enough to even knock someone out or leave a mark.... And my spells don’t feel particularly strong when I use them....”

“If you’ve been learning magic from Nico, I’m not surprised.” Tsubasa says, pushing her now-empty bowl away from herself. “You’re a dragon trying to imitate the power scale of a human. Of course it feels lackluster. Honoka can level a town with fire. I wouldn’t be surprised if Hanayo could do the same with an earthquake. You’re not using it with the intensity it requires.”

Level a town....?! Oh, the humanity! Despite the gesture being offhand, Hanayo shudders again. Practice makes perfect. No town-levelling for her.

“Intensity...” Kotori muses, seemingly unphased by the concept. She gives the word some thought before frowning and returning to the question at hand. “I’m still confused about other magic, though....”

Maki clears her meal away as well, eager to get in on the discussion. “We talked about this a few days ago, remember? Physical magic affects the physical world, but humans, dragons, and a few other creatures have their own magic to protect themselves with. That barrier will usually stop a less concentrated attack, like fire, from burning them if it’s weaker than their own magic. Other physical attacks like ice are trickier though. If you were to crush somebody with rocks, they still exist in the physical sense....you can’t shrug off a 200 pound boulder.”

“That depends, actually.” Tsubasa cuts in. Maki looks bewildered.

“No, it doesn’t. Magic is noncorporeal, so it can’t keep you from being squeezed to death in a rock chamber or impaled by ice -”

Tsubasa shakes her head. “If your magic is stronger, it’s possible. After all....say someone shoots a boulder at me, but I know earth magic....I can just weaken the boulder. If I turn it into sand, it’s useless.”

Maki frowns. “But that’s countermagic, not shrugging it off without a conscious thought.”

“When you’re in danger of drowning, your body will naturally try to hold your breath for you. Likewise, if you’re in danger of being crushed to death, your magic will act as an extension of your body and try to save your life.” Tsubasa says in a measured tone, taking care to make eye contact with Maki. “You’ll let out a pulse of concentrated magic that, if it’s stronger than the opponent’s, should dispel whatever has entrapped you. That’s why dragon attacks are so much more powerful. Not only do they have more magic power than a human, their attacks can’t be dispelled.”

Put-off by having been wrong for possibly the first time in her life, Maki sulks. Hanayo is still curious and, from the looks of it, so is Umi. She has her hands folded at the table. “Why can’t dragon attacks be dispelled?”

“If the dragon is attacking with an element they have an affinity with, there’s usually a physical basis for that attack. Honoka can create fire without the use of magic.Maki can breathe fire like Honoka, and creates icicles through the use of a second chamber in her throat that supercools her breath.” Maki presses a hand to her throat almost self consciously. “These things are created through combining mana and physical matter, so they can’t be broken down into just one or the other.”

Kotori groans, putting her head down on the desk. “This is...more complex than I thought.”

Somewhat impulsively, Hanayo feels the need to get up and lay near the princess, and has to remind herself it’s not always necessary. She fidgets in her seat instead, examining what little is left of her breakfast. Better to not waste it - she wraps up while the others seem stirred into action as well - Umi has been glancing out the window and, once she pushed the chair out, everyone else got the implication: breakfast is over soon.

Shrugging, Tsubasa stands up from the table. “Magic is intuitive. Don’t think too hard about it and it will serve you just fine. You’re not one of the people that has to worry about spell strength, after all.”

“If you say so~!” Kotori chirrups, seeming to cheer up rather abruptly. “Is everyone done eating? Pass your plates over to me and I’ll rinse them off for you.”

Umi is taken aback, as always. Hanayo doesn’t know why she’s still surprised. Kotori has been doing this every day since she learned her water spells, regardless of protest. “Kotori! The princess has no business doing - doing _dishes!_ ” Flustered, she attempts to take the plates back from Kotori. The dragon picks them right back up out of her arms.

“But I’m not~!” Cheerfully, Kotori pushes Umi’s chair out of the way, collecting all of the plates and dumping them into the washbucket. “I’m practicing, not doing dishes! Which means this is a perfectly princess like behavior.”

“Kotori......” Umi whines, as the mentioned rolls her eyes.

“Go train. I’ll catch up on the run.” Kotori waves her off.

Hanayo swallows. Ah, running. Her old arch nemesis. It’s so hard to keep up, although Rin does try her very hardest to help her do so.....

Speaking of which, Rin pops up behind Hanayo’s chair, tipping it over onto the back legs and giving her a Frighten - “Hanayo! I promise I won’t run off without you this time! I’m gonna show you some breathing exercises!”

“Ahh.......do I have to run? I’m really more of a support and distance fighter, anyway...” Hanayo says weakly.

Maki smirks over at her. “For a well rounded team you should practice the same things as everyone else. It’s only fair, right?”

“Easy for you to say! You have those big long legs......” Hanayo’s complaints go unheard, and the table slowly gets ready to leave without her.

Tsubasa whistles on her way out to the training grounds, seeming to ignore the issue entirely, and Honoka gives Hanayo a toothy grin as she finally gets up from her seat. “You can do it! Fight on, Hanayo! Be brave!”

She sighs and marches herself out the door under Umi’s watchful eye.

Time for another 10k.

\-----------------------

Once Hanayo has convinced herself she’s not dying ( a very difficult thing to do, one might add, when she is next to certain that her breathing has stopped entirely and her heart rate has surpassed that of a small mouse’s) and recovered her breath, wind, and willpower, the rest of the day begins. Tsubasa introduced everyone to the training methods used in Akiba, as well as helped them create the proper equipment and field layout.

Nico hasn’t been doing the practice the way she should, because she won’t get on Maki’s back for anything, and seems reluctant even to practice on someone more relaxed or easier to hold onto like herself or Honoka. It only reaffirms Hanayo’s conclusion that Nico isn’t actually mad at Maki - she’s scared of flying.

Why else would she reject Hanayo’s offers to practice with her? She tried to get that vibe across to Maki, but the girl just won’t hear it. She’s convinced Nico has it out for her.

“Hanayo, Rin! You’re up!” From the sky, Tsubasa calls out for them, and Hanayo hurriedly shakes herself off, feeling Rin clamour onto her back.

She sets a hand between Hanayo’s horns, running it along the length of her head. It kind of reminds Hanayo of how she approaches deer and horses - Rin is used to working with animals, too. “I’ll be careful not to fall off, but I might stand up a little. Do you want to take it slow?”

 **“Yes,”** Hanayo rumbles in the affirmative. Rin doesn’t understand, but she knows what Hanayo _means_. It’s no telepathy, but if Rin is clear in her instructions, Hanayo has never failed her before, and it’s the same way with Rin.

Hanayo takes off and sets toward the small target, flying to the right of the target Kotori is holding up in the air for them (Rin is using her left hand today, she thinks, so it’ll be easier to hit if she adjusts accordingly) and feeling Rin’s weight shift around on her back.

She soars past Kotori and the target with the resounding _THUNK_ of the sword being slammed against the wood, leaving deep gouges in its wake. Rin cheers. “Bullseye!” Hanayo cheers along as well, tail flicking. She allows herself a celebratory stomp or two when they reach the ground. Rin hugs her neck.

For someone who only recently took up the sword, Rin amazes Hanayo. She’s so energetic, and talented....she does all these exercises without so much as a hint of a complaint. It’s incredible. Hanayo wants to be like that....to have that drive....Does she have it in her, too?

Initially, she dreaded coming here. Her parents had done it, suggesting that if she did she might come out of her shell more, and Hanayo’s first reaction had been to pretend to be a rock. Nobody would pick her even if she wasn’t hiding, she’d reasoned. To be proved wrong in the way that she was......it was certainly a funny story.

So even if she doesn’t have that drive yet....she’ll give practicing her all until she’s strong enough.

“Umi! Kotori! You’re up!” Hanayo nuzzles Rin and quickly scoops her back up onto her back.

If she wants to keep up, then she’ll just have to work even harder! Atop her, Rin laughs and holds on tightly.

* * *

Nico watches practice from the low grounds, lance and sword wedged haphazardly into hay training dummies.

Gods, it all feels like they’re _mocking_ her somehow. She knows that’s not the case, but - but -! Rin makes it look so easy! Umi makes it look so easy! And hell, Tsubasa might as well have been born on the saddle, because she and Honoka sure as hell don’t seem to have as much of a problem in the air as Maki and Nico do.

In the beginning, she was content in blaming it all on Maki - this is her fault, Nico would tell herself, because Maki was the one that got their relationship off to a rocky start. It’s just because Nico hasn’t practiced enough as everyone else by, say, a week or two. That’s all! Practice will fix it.

But it hasn’t. Even thinking about getting back on the saddle is giving her the shakes, and it’s so fucking _embarrassing_. What kind of dragon knight can’t fly? What kind of knight is scared of something as trivial as heights?!

She didn’t used to be, so really, it’s all-

She’s making excuses for herself. Gods, she really is pathetic. She knows it’s not Maki’s fault. She’s known that for a while. But if she shows up and she can’t get on Maki’s back even after they make up, then she’ll be kicked off the team.

Growling, Nico takes another stab at the dummy. The wooden post arms wiggle tauntingly from the force of the strike - she hit hard, sure, but she’s still pathetic. Umi could have smashed it, and Rin would have aimed better. She hits it again, and still the taunting vibration persists. She lines up another, and then -

“Geez, you’re gonna break it! Nico, that’s not very responsible of you!” Rin chides, and just her fucking luck that she’s being dropped in on.

The irritation must show on her face, because Rin suddenly seems dejected. “Umm, n-not that I’m gonna tell captain Umi on you, or anything...”

Nico sighs. Mad as she is, she’s not mad at Rin, and she’ll do well not to act like she is. “It’s....fine, I was just making faces.”

Rin bites her lip, looking peeringly over at the rest of the practicing knights - rising onto her tip-toes as if that vantage would make things more clear. After a time, she diverts her eyes back to Nico. “Hey, Nico.......is this about your fight with Maki?”

“What _about_ my fight with Maki? She dropped me, Rin, I’m not just going to -”

“But Maki isn’t here! Why are you so mad when you can’t even see the person you’re fighting with?!” Rin’s counter is near-indignant. “Stop making excuses!”

Ah, shit. “Well - I - I just!” Nico’s got nothing, not with Rin’s damnable, pitying eyes directed right at her like twin lances. What _could_ she say to that? Just another thing Nico can’t do. Great. Just perfect. She submits, lowering her head.

With wavering eyes, Rin sniffles. “I know everyone’s been talking about you, and it makes me sad.....and they won’t tell me, either, but I think they’re worried about you. Hanayo and Maki were talking this morning, but I dunno what it was about, except you were involved.”

That confirms her worst suspicions.....everyone else is onto her. She grits her teeth. “Don’t worry about it, Rin. It’s fine.”

“I’m _not_ too dumb to help my friends!” Rin shouts, hands clenched. “It’s not fine!”

“Rin...” Again, Nico sighs. It really is hard to be upset with someone that earnest. “Yeah, okay. I’m not mad at Maki.”

Rin blinks. Despite her earnestness, it seems clear enough she didn’t expect to get an answer. Nico shrugs. “Once Umi figures out the reason I’m not cooperating, she’s going to demote me anyways, so I might as well be honest with you....” She mumbles. “I’m too scared to go flying again. I only fell because I wasn’t holding on properly.”

“What?! There’s no way you’ll be kicked off!” Rin’s earlier frustration seems to slip away, replaced entirely with worry. Rin frets about her, grabbing onto her arm as if the physical act of being latched onto her would keep her from being demoted later. “You were the first person Captain Umi picked!” She says insistently.

“What good is a dragon knight that won’t touch a dragon? I’m sunk.” Nico replies, hopelessly. “It’s all over now....” She let everyone down, honestly. Her father, rest his soul, is going to disown her from the heavens. Realistically he would never, but hell, it’s been a decade. Maybe he’s changed, somehow. She doesn’t know. Her family will take her back, but going back to a regular old guard shift after she talked herself up so much feels like a joke.

There’s a long beat, silence filled with loud, thoughtful noises from Rin. She places a hand on her chin, looking upwards. After a few moments, she lights up. “I have a plan, Nico!”

“Really.” Nico says flatly.

“Don’t quit so easily!” Rin pulls Nico by the hand even further off the training grounds, carefully checking to make sure nobody can hear her. “If you can’t fly with Maki, just be really, really, really good at something else! Be a super knight! Be like, pchow pow -shiiing! Kill a bunch of stuff!” Rin pantomimes sword movements with her arms, accompanied by sound affects.

Actually......maybe she’s got a point! Nico perks up. “What about getting to missions? The sword part I can handle, but...are you sure?”

Rin keeps going, excitedly. “Yeah! Listen, listen, if you catch a ride with Honoka -” The knight grimaces at the thought. Riding on that klutz...not ideal.

“That’s a mean face, Nico...” Rin pauses to scold her, before crossing her arms and starting her suggestion again. “She’s a lot bigger so you can’t feel the flying as much. Just close your eyes.” She demonstrates by covering her eyes with her hands. “Then, then, then, all you have to do is show off when you get on the ground! Maki might need to find another partner, but then Umi can’t get rid of you at least, right?”

“That...could work.....” Nico mutters, taking the time to mull the plan over. It’d involve convincing Umi to let her fly on someone else, but she doubts if there was a call for combat and she asked to do things a bit differently Umi would have the time or the patience to argue with her.

It’d also involve the someone else being Honoka, but Tsubasa was certainly the most competent person to catch her should she fall - well, save Umi, but Nico has seen how she has to hold on to Kotori, not to mention she seems to lack both the size and strength of flight to carry two people on her back at once.

Besides, there’s no way in hell Nico’s _ever_ being carried by the princess again. Being clutched in her talons like that....she imagines it’s how mice feel after they’ve been plucked from the ground by hawks. Not an amazing sensation to experience.

Hanayo is just too difficult for two people to hold on to. So Rin really does seem to have scoped out her only option.

Now firm in her resolve, Nico nods. “I think you’re right, Rin.”

Rin beams up at her. “Now you don’t have to worry anymore! We can keep being teammates!”

“I owe you one for this.” Despite Rin being the taller of the duo, and more suited to the gesture, Nico slings an arm around Rin’s shoulder. “I’ll offer to make dinner and I can make whatever food you want, okay?”

With a cheer, Rin starts off for the bunks and, whistling, Nico follows close behind.

* * *

The next day, Umi receives a report from a city a few miles away of a bandit incursion - by the time anyone else responds, it’ll be too late, but by air they should be able to catch them in the act.

Rin hurries Nico over to where Honoka and Tsubasa are getting prepared before darting away for Hanayo, waving her off like an overeager puppy. Nico shifts on her feet.

“We’re finally going to work with the rest of the team!” Eagerly, Honoka raises her fist, clenched as if she intends to serenade the sky above. “I’m gonna show them what I’m made of! What about you?”

Tsubasa rolls her shoulders, patting her sheathed sword after stretching. “Maybe sixty percent effort.”

Despairing, Honoka shakes her partner by the shoulders, though she’s careful not to mark her up at all, even with the (frankly kind of scary....) claws she sports. “We need to impress them!”

“Fine, fine....” Tsubasa laughs softly, removing Honoka’s hands from her shoulders. Nico can’t seem to shake the feeling she’s intruding, actually. Maybe she’ll take her chances with Hanayo.... “If you insist. I think our first impression was just fine, though... Now, why don’t you get changed while I answer Miss Yazawa’s burning questions, okay?”

Ah, so she did notice. Honoka didn’t, apparently. She leans up onto the tips of her toes to peer over Tsubasa’s head at her. “Hi, Nico!”

“Hi, Honoka.” Nico replies, a bit flatly. Honoka doesn’t seem to notice (or if she does, doesn’t seem to care about) Nico’s inflection, because she’s all smiles as she wanders off a short distance and transforms - soon looming over the two.

“Hello. And I make three.” Tsubasa finishes, as though it was a rollcall. “What do you need?”

“We-e-ell......” Nico starts, already dreading the conversation at hand, “I was hoping I could catch a ride on Honoka, since....”

Honoka lets out a happy roar. Tsubasa looks between the two of them, then gestures for Nico to follow. “Fine, get on. I guess this is better than wasting time trying to have you and Nishikino hash it out.”

Normally Nico isn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth, but she has to ask, as Honoka lowers her head for the two to clamour on - “Just like that?”

“My _personal_ feelings towards your petty disagreements have nothing to do with efficiency.” Tsubasa says icily. It’s probably the first time, save her gentle words in conversations with Honoka, Nico has ever heard Tsubasa speak with anything other than a polite or relaxed intonation.

She swallows, nervously. Honoka’s back is about the temperature of a hot rock in the sun, but Nico felt that chill. “Thank you anyway.”

Tsubasa doesn’t spare her a glance. “I only hope you know what you’re doing. Foolish, but a hope nonetheless.” She mutters. As they take off, Nico sees Maki in wait behind them, and feels a twist of guilt in her stomach.

Then they’re in the air and she has to close her eyes as tight as possible to avoid seeing the ground beneath them. Just don’t look, and it’ll all be over soon......... it’s going to be a long flight, isn’t it?

She clutches the spined ridge Honoka’s wing grows out from tightly, while Tsubasa sits through the ride in pointed silence.

There’s already smoke when they arrive. Nico feels nauseous, and as soon as Honoka comes to a stop she throws herself down Honoka’s wing outstretched like a slide - luckily landing on her feet after a slight stumble, and feels the numb pleasure of feet on solid ground again.

Umi, though she’s quickly escaping Nico’s line of sight, gives her a look that indicates they’re going to have a Conversation when this fight is over with. Rin, also on her way off, though still on Hanayo’s back, gives her a thumbs-up. Bless her little heart for trying, she guesses.

Nico draws her sword.

‘ _If you’re willing to_ honor _me with your presence, I think we’d better start chipping in as well.’_ Maki’s voice cuts into her head, and Nico finds the dragon has, against all odds, snuck up on her. Even lacking a human face, Maki’s eyes are dark and piercing.

“Obviously.” Nico replies. If she doesn’t address Maki’s anger, it’s almost like there’s nothing wrong with this circumstance!

Maki growls, but Nico follows her lead as they approach a fight between Rin, Hanayo, and perhaps six or seven raiders. They’re clearly outclassed, faced with a dragon, but keeping Rin safe and doing damage at the same time seems difficult for Hanayo - and the dragon has a strong preference for the former.

Rin bobs and weaves around assaults on her left, while Hanayo body-blocks the right side. Maki makes her involvement in the battle known with a long roar, launching a series of icicles in their direction. Most are dodged or shattered but they leave long scrapes when they do hit, just shy of needling through the bandits entirely.

While he’s off balance, Rin calls down thunder and takes one bandit out of commission for good. “Good timing, nya~!” She strikes a catlike pose.

Without really deigning to respond (or at least, Nico doubts she did) Maki charges off at the next bandit, baring her fangs and threatening to stampede over him. She’s out for blood today. Nico _can’t imagine_ why.

Discomforted, she finds a straggler to pick off herself, retesting the grip of her sword in her hands. She takes a swing, soon parried, and locks eyes with the man, gritting her teeth. The blades start to grind, making steady progress toward her hilt, and she pulls away and strikes from the other side, still hitting steel. Again. Again. Nico sees an opening and takes it.

The next time he parries, she swings low and takes a slice of his leg. It’s not an incapacitating blow, by any means, but when his stance shifts to accomodate for the injury, she finds new weak spots.

Her blade finds purchase in his upper ribcage as his clamours off her breastplate at the last moment, a breath away from the leather armor guarding her shoulders. As his left arm slackens, the sword drags down the face of her armor on its way to the ground. Nico wipes her forehead down. Tense, but he’s no match in the end!

Her eyes are caught by something in the distance, and it’s not dragon shaped. While Honoka is clearly visible not far from them, spraying flame and shaking the earth, this movement is smaller - stealthier. She sees two men in the armor of the raider camp, and her blood boils.

Nico knows she shouldn’t stray so far from the group, but she sees, clearly, some of the raiders creeping around the edge of the town, in pursuit of fleeing locals, and she’ll be damned if they get away from her. This may not be her village; but it is a village _like_ hers, with small fields and smaller houses and not enough good luck to go around.

So she pursues them around the corner, away from her teammates, and backs them up against a barn. Two on one - not great, but Nico is a professional underdog, after all. “Put your weapons down or I’ll gut you both.” She says, tone as commanding as she can get it. Nico holds her sword out, tensed, because she knows the answer will be no.

“D’your parents know you’re out playing knight?” The one with the sword sneers, backing off from the victims, who take the opportunity to scuttle around the barn out of sight. “Run on home, kid.”

Nico stares, keeping her face impassive. With her free hand, she readies a spell. She doesn’t think they can see the motions she’s making with it, anyway. “I gave you your warning.”

The second man, the one with the axe, snorts. “We’ll send you home in little bits, then.” He motions to her with his head, and a third man comes out from behind the house, where Nico couldn’t see before.

She grimaces. These odds just got a lot worse.

Seeing as they have the numerical advantage, the men rush her first. She casts her earth spell to disorient the one with the axe, a jet of rock shooting up from the ground and throwing him back, as she twists to parry the second man with her sword. She tries to get off another earth spell to reach the third man, but he swings at her head with his axe and she has no choice but to block with her sword - leaving the man she’d parried to slide past and hit her back with his sword. The armor held - but she felt that one.

She summons up another spell, fire this time, and tries to gain some distance, bringing her left hand to her mouth and spitting a jet of flame. Predictably, they dodge, but it gives her the time to back up.

Three on one. No big deal! This is No Big Deal. Nico draws on all the inner calm she still has, and takes a deep breath. The fastest way, even though it’d mean burning much more of her mana, is to take one out as quickly as possible.

She summons a jet of water and sends it spinning towards the man she’d had to block last time. He looks at it like he’s going to laugh, not bothering to get out of the way. It’s just a little jet of water, after all.

For now.

Posture stiff, Nico raises her casting hand and spreads her fingers. All she should do for now is....summon her mana to the very top of her body.....it pulses in her hand, and she snaps it shut.

The jet of water hardens into a spike of ice, and it’s too late to dodge it. The ice glistens and runs through his shoulder, tough as any lance, leaving him skewered and out of the use of his right arm.

Back to two on one.

The sword-wielding man and the leader step over the other man, looking, for once, rattled. Nico stares them down. “This will go a lot faster if you let me arrest you now.”

“What, so I can look _prettier_ on the chopping block?” The tone is derisive. “I know my fate. I die...or I kill you!” He points to her almost accusingly, and -

Lightning spell. Fuck. He hid the casting motion with his pointing -  Nico braces herself, hands tight around her sword so she doesn’t accidentally drop it in the ensuing shock. For a moment, her entire world is static and yellow, myriad colors flashing and warping behind her closed eyes while her armor turns into a veritable shock cage.

It can’t last forever. It can’t last forever.

Eventually it does end, but they didn’t stand and watch while she was being electrocuted. The man with the sword is close - too close for her to step aside, and Nico hurriedly reaches up to parry, but comes a bit short; his sword scrapes off hers and slices through the leather armor guarding her forearm. She stifles her shout and swings blindly back at him, sword clattering against his chest guard.

Sucking a breath through her teeth, Nico lunges again, finding her swing parried. She drops the swing to try and get him in the knees, but then a brutal swing connects with her side, sending her tumbling across the grass.

Her vision blurs, then focuses in. Axe. There’s a large dent in her armor on the right side, where the bladed side bent it in so hard her own armor broke skin. She raises her left hand, but the stinging in her forearm makes it obvious enough she should be summoning her mana through her right.

 _Fuck_ , Nico thinks, and it’s the first clear thought she’s had. She can barely feel what’s going on on her right, so to try and move her arm with the precision she needs...

Her hand shakes. The bandits walk closer, defiant in their certainty. Magic thrums through Nico’s barely raised arm.

“How’s about a blade in the shoulder? You still gonna be tough shit when you can’t move your arms?” Nico glances at the man she sent the ice spear through, lying shivering on the ground. She looks back up. The leader has approached with the sword. “I told you to go _home_.”

Nico sucks in a deep breath.

And spits it back out as a jet of flame in his face, bringing her hand just in front of her mouth so she can steer the direction it goes in.

He shouts and drops back trying to put out the fire on his clothes and remove his burning helmet. Nico grins, but isn’t able to get up before the second man strikes her back to the floor with the butt of his sword. “You’ve gone and done it now...”

She grits her teeth.

Maybe........this is it, after all....?

Just as the would-be final blow rises, an angel appears.

Or something like that.

Her field of vision is obscured by feathers, bright white and glossy brown, spread protectively in front of her, accompanied by a visceral growl.Nico’s eyes trail down to see the dull-clawed feet, the long, slumping scaled tail, and it clicks.

“Maki...” She says haltingly.

The dragon swishes her tail once in seeming acknowledgement before roaring once more. The ground under Maki’s feet heats up while she repositions her feet, and suddenly a hail of fire is striking at the area in front of them, carefully avoiding Nico and Maki’s own positioning. In the mess, both bandits attempt to flee, but are met with Umi’s sword and Honoka’s jaws, respectively.

Neither survives the encounter.

Umi wipes her sword clean while Tsubasa practices Sword Dentistry with Honoka’s teeth, and Maki and Nico have some time to themselves....well, and Hanayo. The earth dragon put her head on Nico’s shoulder, horns aglow, and seems to be numbing and healing the pain.

Nico looks away.

‘ _You shouldn’t have run off like that.’_ Maki says in a severe tone. ‘ _You know you would have died if we didn’t come in time, right?’_

She works her jaw around, not wanting to answer and condemn herself but also unable to deny the accusation. “...Yes.” Nico says eventually.

‘ _Then why didn’t you tell anyone where you were going?! ‘_

“It was kind of a spur of the moment thing,” Nico answers sardonically, looking away at the houses. The civilians have been escorted back in. “Next time I’ll be sure to use the sign up sheet before I try to protect the innocent.”

Maki whips her head around to face Nico’s suddenly, leaning in and baring her teeth, eyes narrowed. She growls. ‘ _A_ **_dead_ ** _knight doesn’t help_ **_anyone._ ** _’_

Nico stubbornly remains silent, crossing her arms. Hanayo seems to read the atmosphere and takes off after carefully nudging Nico’s still-sore side. Probably a promise to fix the rest of that later.

‘ _Ask for backup next time!’_ Maki berates, voice loud in her mind. Nico doesn’t say anything.

There’s a long, long pause. Nico keeps her eyes fixed on the ground.

“None of this would even be an argument if we stuck together like we were supposed to.” Having shifted back into a human (mostly; Maki retained her horns, and though she usually took a moment to look annoyed, she skipped that this time) the redhead sits beside Nico, pulling her legs up and hugging them. “Why can’t you _work_ with me?”

Remaining stubbornly quiet, Nico pulls her knees closer, ignoring the ache in her side.

“ _Nico_.” Maki says, more insistently. She sounds annoyed. Good, let it be another argument. It’s not like anything else could have come of this.

Maki grabs her by the shoulders, pulling her in with complete disregard to her injuries. “Don’t just sit here and _take_ it, you moron! I don’t care if you’re mad at me, but putting yourself in danger over a grudge is crossing the line!”

“Yeah, _fine._ ” Nico retorts. “It was stupid. Thanks. Loud and clear, Maki.”

“If you know it was stupid, why did you do it anyway?!”

“ _Stop_ yelling at me!” The outburst is sharp, and Nico slams her fist into the ground, earning a few scant seconds of silence. Maki watches her carefully, finally subdued, and Nico wraps one arm around herself self-consciously. “I was being stubborn. I didn’t want to ask for anyone’s help because then I’d have to apologize afterwards.”

She follows the movements of the rest of their troupe, watching as the others begin to clean up the mess around town. Kotori is putting a damper on the small fires that’d started around town, while Umi catches a ride and picks priority targets. It looks so effortless - Umi isn’t scared at all.  

Maki sighs. “If you won’t tell me why you’re still mad at me, then don’t expect me to apologize. And if you know an apology is due, then just spit it out and be done with it.”

“I’m just....frustrated. It’s not even really with you...”

“Can you tell me why?” Maki prods.

Nico shakes her head no, keeping her eyes pointed as far away from Maki as she can manage. Maki leaves it off there, and the two watch in silence while the rest of their team does extraction in the village. Honoka isn’t helping much, but she lies in the center and lets the village kids play on her tail and with her horns. Rin and Hanayo are flying around trying to recover the bandits’ bodies and place them somewhere the town can deal with them.

Maki seems particularly focused on Rin and Hanayo. “Why can’t we work together like that....?”

“We both wanted to work alone when we got here, but now that we’re in the group, you learned while I couldn’t.....maybe I should just drop out.” Nico admits after a time. “I’m obviously not doing proper risk assessment anyway, I mean.”

Looking bewildered, Maki turns to face Nico. She puts her hands on her shoulders. “Where is this coming from?”

“Where do you _think_ it’s coming from?!” Nico retorts, shoving Maki away. She looks down with a grimace.  “I’m a loser, Maki! I’m too scared to fly and too weak to kill a couple of bandits on my own! Why should I be here when I can’t earn my keep without messing it up?”

The red dragon takes a careful evaluation of Nico, she can feel it. Even if she won’t look back - won’t meet her eyes - she can feel Maki’s sizing her up. Probably to agree with her. “You’re scared of flying?”

“...I slipped off and I thought, oh, gods, this is it. Even if I hung on as much as I could, I was worried I’d let go, or your feathers would fall out, and I’d be a pretty little smear on the ground. And I was so scared of dying. I thought being a showoff would make me feel better, but when I got cornered, I was scared again. Guess that’s just how I am.....”

“Everyone’s scared of dying, Nico, it’s instinctive. If you weren’t, frankly, I _would_ have to discharge you.” Nico’s head shoots up as Umi rounds the corner, arms crossed, looking down to the duo. “Although petty _infighting_ isn’t a spectacular thing to put on your record, either.”

“C-captain Umi!” Nico scrambles for composure. Well, she can’t say she wasn’t expecting this conversation sooner or later. It doesn’t sound like her job is being threatened, though...”I....”

Surprisingly, Maki jumps to the defensive. “I was enabling it,” Nico blinks, looking over to her partner. She looks determined.

Umi raises a hand, apparently sensing that excuses are coming. “As I was saying, Nico....the fear of death or harm is instinctive. No one can fault you for it. But the qualities of a good knight are not to stifle your instincts out of a sense of pride. However lacking you may be in terms of communication with your team...” Nico grimaces, fearing for a long lecture in the future, “You were also driven to help others without prompting, and that is admirable.” 

The captain gestures to the far side of the encampment, near Honoka where the refugees have gathered. “I spoke to the people you noticed being accosted and they informed me of your involvement. Of course, I would have much prefered you alert all of us to their presence, I can understand how the thought did not pass your mind, and your wounds suggest to me you’ve learned your lesson well enough.”

Nico swallows. “I have.”

There’s finally a breach in Umi’s professional demeanor - she relaxes her shoulders and takes a deep breath. She looks upon the two of them with warm eyes. “Then let's put this silly feud behind ourselves at last. It goes without saying that you will not be permitted to fly home with Honoka......and ideally Maki can take this time to restore your confidence in her flight capabilities. Have I been clear enough?”

Maki and Nico both nod in unison. “Yes, Captain.”

She nods. “We leave as soon as Hanayo has finished treating your wounds. Please, try to keep the theatrics contained in the future.” With one final sigh, Umi departs, catching up with Tsubasa, who spares a glance in their direction. She looks pleased - no surprise, given her clear frustration over Nico's dilemma earlier. 

Thoroughly shamed, Nico nods sheepishly and Maki averts her gaze. Hanayo, now markedly smaller, returns to her place at Nico’s side. She presses her hands gently to the remaining injuries. “I’m glad you two made up,” She says shyly. “It’s sad to see friends fight.”

“You think?” Nico asks, with a touch of an awkward laugh as her side acts up.

Hanayo frowns and touches the armor. “You’ll have to take this off for it to heal right. The armor is cutting in.” After some uncomfortable shuffling,she manages to get it off, comforting herself in the knowledge that the sooner the armor was gone, the sooner the pain would fade.

She closes her eyes, letting out a sigh of relief as Hanayo closes the wound. She only cracks them open when she gets the persistent feeling that she’s being stared at. Maki is peering over at her, though she looks embarrassed at having been caught. “Something on your mind?” Nico asks, grinning just a bit. Her partner is worried about her.....this is actually kinda sweet!

“I’ve never seen you without your armor on,” Maki admits, crossing her arms. Her eyes creep back up to Nico’s without ever seeming to linger on her bloodied undershirt. “It’s just.....”

“Oh~? Am I cute, then?”

Maki scoffs. “I didn’t want to be rude, but if you’re going to make stupid suggestions like that, I’ll tell you. I was just thinking you’re even flatter than I thought.”

“ _You little....!!!!_ Get back here!!” Nico lunges after the dragon, who got a head start on running away, as Hanayo stumbles after her.

“Wait! I’m not done yet! Nic _oooooo!!!!!!”_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had some difficulties, both with Hanayo's point of view (i just don't know that girl as well as the others! I love her, but she's an enigma to me!) and conducting the fight scenes in a way that was both dramatic and not, yknow, "she swung her sword. it hit him. he swung his sword. parry. also theres bleeding somewhere". I know there are some terms I overuse, but it's kinda difficult to write motion as fast and specific as a swordfight into fiction, so i'm working on it! I tried to keep the fights interesting with magic usage - which i hope makes sense entirely now! Tsubasa had to explain the last of it lmfao.
> 
> Anyway, dear old Nicko and Maki are finally working in sync with each other, or, at least, uh, working with each other at all. With the current bonds cemented, we are still missing a few people on our roster..... ;')
> 
> The very last scene in the chapter was the most fun to write, also. With that all out of the way, thank you so much for reading! Please let me know if you have any Thoughts(tm) on the chapter, advice, questions, etc......i Will Die for u if u leave a comment basically,,,, hopefully i'll get the next chapter out to you soon! Until then, cya!


	8. The empty forest

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me?? updating quickly??? its more likely than you think! I will probably never adhere to a schedule properly in my life, but hey! sometimes it be like that.......

“Ughhhhh...........it’s sooooooo boooring,” With a dramatic sigh, Rin drapes herself fully across Hanayo’s back, letting her head thump-thump against her side with every step and reaching lazily out for the clouds. From the front, there’s a mournful roar of agreement from Honoka. How long have they been out? An hour? Might as well be ten, for all Rin knows. It's just a bore.

Maki snarls, a red muzzle coming into view. She leans in to glower at Rin who, for her, part, cheerfully reaches out to touch her ears. She looks kind of funny upside-down, Rin thinks. She wonders if she’d be able to live upside down. It’d probably be kind of hard to drink, though.....

‘ _It’s not like you’re the one doing the walking, you know...’_ Maki starts, irritation clear in her mind-voice. Is it actually a  voice if it doesn’t travel through the air? What if Maki thought really, really hard about talking with a deeper voice? Would it work?

Lost in thoughts, Rin absently rubs her hands against the soft fur of Maki’s head, instinctively trying to pet her the way she might pet a stray. “ _H-hey, cut that out!’_ Maki nips at Rin as she cups Maki’s face between her hands, smushing the fur together.

“Sorry, Maki~! You just look like a cute kitty!” Rin gushes. “I just want to touch your cheeks!” Maki pulls an impressive face and manages to pry her head free, shaking herself as if it’d rid her of the indignity. The fur around her mouth is kind of mussed now, though. She doesn’t look thrilled about that, but pulls away from Rin. Nico laughs at her. Maki seems irritated, but keeps walking.

She’s starting to feel kind of lightheaded. Rin sits back up and enjoys the head rush before looking pleadingly over to Umi who, for her part, _is_ walking. “Are we almost there yet? Why aren’t we just flying?”

“We don’t have a location, we have an objective.” Umi sighs. This is probably only the third time she’s answered that question, to her credit. “Three nearby villages have complained of abnormal wildlife activity. I couldn’t see anything from the air, so we’re investigating the forest on foot.”

Rin sits up a bit straighter and peers into the forest. They’re still on the outskirts, now, just looking in as they try to find a point of entry or interesting thing outside. Just the sight of it gives her the shivers, though. She’s not completely sure why, but the trees seem so.....still. As if they wouldn’t move even if Rin ran up and gave them a good long shake.

In the hour they’ve been patrolling, Rin hasn’t seen a single animal. That alone is enough to warn her off.

“How can the wildlife act funny when there isn’t any here to act at all?”

“That would be the abnormal behavior in question, Rin.” For her part, Umi seems perplexed too. Guess there are some things even she doesn’t know the answer to. “It’s only been a day or so, but if the animals continue to act strange and evasively, the villages nearby will eventually face food shortages. It’s in our best interest to find and fix the cause as soon as possible.”

“Bah.” Rin flops back over onto Hanayo’s side. Leave it to her job to find the only forest with no animals.....but, she guesses they’ll come back if she does it right? That’s something to look forward to! Rin hums, and quickly decides to take a break from riding - she hops off of Hanayo’s back. When Hanayo looks to see where she went, Rin smiles at her, a reassurance. “Thanks, Hanayo~! I’m gonna stretch my legs a bit, okay?”

She looks over to Umi and points towards the woods. “I’m gonna go find an animal, ‘kay?”

“You shouldn’t just ask to _wander_ into a potentially dangerous area like that,” Nico says, arms crossed. “I’ll come with you.”

Rin pouts. “You’re gonna scare them off! We’re too loud as a group.” She says,because it’s true! Too much armor, or they’re too big.

Kotori, though....Rin puts a hand to her chin. Kotori’s feathers make her pretty quiet, and she’s mostly brownish colors.....

“If Kotori wants, I think maybe she can come with me.” Rin concludes out loud. “‘Cause she’s the quietest.”

“Sending just one person out with the _princess_ -” Umi starts, as always, and Tsubasa laughs. Umi glares at her. “What? It’s a bad idea.”

“I think you should let those two go out. Rin is just going to find an animal, yes? If she finds where they’re going, we can make shorter work of this mission. Kotori is a big girl. She can keep herself safe if they find the disturbance before the missing animals.”

She doesn’t look thrilled about it, but Umi reluctantly agrees with Tsubasa’s line of reasoning. “Kotori, are you okay with this?”

The princess swoops down from where she’d been keeping adrift above Umi and circles around Rin, slowly approaching the ground. When she lands, she cranes her neck to lean onto Rin’s shoulder affectionately. Rin giggles as the feathers tickle her ear.

“If you’re certain.” Resigned, Umi concedes to let them loose. “Rin, report back if you receive any indicators of where the wildlife is fleeing to, and we’ll follow from there.”

“Aye aye!” Rin saluts Umi, and Nico groans.

“We’re still not pirates, Rin.”

Shrugging the comment off, Rin leads Kotori quietly into the trees. It really is too quiet around here.....the only movement at all seems to come from the two of them, even though she knows the trees are reacting to the wind, too.

She kneels by a tree and shoves her hands in the dirt and bark, upsetting the forest lining. After a bit of rummaging and peering, she finds a few colonies of bugs and lifts a beetle up to her eyes. “Hmm.....there’s still food for them around.” She sets it down.

So why are the birds gone? Rin dusts her hands off on her pants and Kotori peers over at the disturbed area before following suit. Think.....maybe the birds migrated early for some reason? Too many ice spells?

....No, it’s still nice and warm. She’d know if it was _that_ cold. Maybe birds are the wrong place to start, since they can fly away so easily. She keeps her eyes on the ground. Kotori chirrups softly, putting her head over Rin’s shoulder. Rin smiles and pats her head. “I’m trying to figure out what to look for,” she explains. Talking out loud might help. “Cause the birds don’t seem to be around, even though there’s plenty to eat. The trees around here are marked up, though - we’re near a deer path. I’m going to look for footprints.”

Kotori chirrups again, seeming pleased, and pushes Rin along with her head supportively.

They wander along the way, always keeping a close and wary eye on the direction they’d come from, until a few minutes in, Rin finds deer tracks.....and wolf tracks. And fox tracks?

The longer she looks at the ground, the more apparent it becomes: this path is being used by every animal, even the ones that really ought to be sticking to the underbrush.... “Kotori...can you get the others? I don’t want to lose this spot.”

Kotori shakes herself, as if something had wetted her feathers, and leans in towards Rin, imploring amber eyes directed up at her. She cocks her head.

Rin waves her off. “I’ll be alright! Go get the others. It doesn’t look like there’s anything for them to chase off, anyway.”

Somewhat reluctantly, the birdlike dragon listens, taking quick action to get back to the others. Kotori moves a bit funny when she’s not in the air, like this, but she makes good time. After a time she seems to vanish in the trees, pale brown feathers and tree trunks merging.

Now that she’s well and truly alone, that gut feeling that she shouldn’t be around here is only heightened. Rin lays quietly on the ground, sticking her legs out and wiggling her feet to distract herself. Like a pendulum, sort of, only she has to keep the momentum herself. Tap-tap. Tap-tap.

Something bright and fluttering passes in front of her face, drifting slowly, softly, to the forest ground, and her eyes fixate on it, tracking the thing. Flowers.....from above her?

The faint petal is carried by a breeze Rin doesn’t feel down the path the animals have followed, and vague shadows flirt with the discarded thing until it’s out of her sight entirely. Rin nearly finds herself on her feet and following it...but strikes the thought from her mind.

There are no flowers in sight, but it’s the last she sees of petals. Rin stands up to welcome everyone when she hears them approaching her location. “Look what Rin fo-o-und~!” She calls in a singsong voice. “It’s like a road! It looks like _all_ the animals went this way, nya.”

“Well done, Rin.” Umi smiles over at her, and Rin feels like she can puff her chest out just a bit more. Nico looks like she sorely wishes she could have been the one to find it, but it’s not sincere envy.

“So we just have to follow the path now, right?” Nico asks, crossing her arms. “It should be pretty obvious what the source is if this leads us to some deep dark cave.”

Umi hums. “More or less. We’ll see where it takes us.”

Tsubasa puts an arm on Honoka’s leg, evaluating the path. “Honoka, can you change back? You’re too big for this path.”

With a whine, the fire dragon lowers herself to her belly on the ground, giving Tsubasa a pouty face, eyes nearly crossed in her attempt to keep Tsubasa in the center of her sights. Rin, for her part, finds it very compelling. Tsubasa must be immune, because she shakes her head once. Honoka whines again, this time demonstrating that she can just _make_ the path bigger with a little fire, letting out a puff of flame that incinerates the branch above them.

Tsubasa crosses her arms. “Honoka.”

Finally defeated, Honoka leans away sadly, looking betrayed, until she temporarily blinds everyone changing back. She’s still pouting. “I coulda fit.”

“Sure, but you still need the practice.” Tsubasa replies, flicking one of Honoka’s still-present scales visible on her arm. “We are by no means required to be perfect, but eventually we may have to make public appearances in uniform. As you are, wings and all, nothing is going to fit.”

Honoka shudders. “A closed-back uniform? I never had to wear those back home!”

“You didn’t have to wear anything back home.” Tsubasa replies flatly.

Another pout. “Well, I _guess_ .....” A beat passes, and Honoka suddenly looks up very eagerly. “At least I can chat with you now! You wouldn’t believe how much cool stuff I saw on the flight here that I was just _burning_ to tell you guys- “

The group begins to walk off without them, and Honoka just distractedly keeps the pace. Hanayo , who’d been lagging behind a bit, makes a point of walking beside Rin, pressing her head to her side. Just being around her makes Rin feel more calm. Being sandwiched between her friends makes the forest a whole lot less uninviting. She tunes back in to whatever Honoka is saying. “Did you really see a chimera with a two-headed snake?”

Honoka nods gravely. “One of the heads looked kind of like it might have been a branch from another tree, and I was looking from pretty high up, so I’m not sure, but it was really convincing!”

Rin ‘oooooh’s. “We should go back and find it someday! I bet everyone back at the castle would think it’s super impressive.”

“You’re so right~! I wanna bring it back to Yukiho! She’d call me a liar and I’d just whip out the chimera and _bam!_ Two headed snake.”

“Who’s Yukiho?” Cocking her head, Rin tries to think back on the name, but it’d be the first time she’d heard Honoka mention anyone like that.

Almost reflectively, a rare gesture from Honoka, she lowers her head and looks back at Rin. “She’s my sister. I haven’t seen her in a while, but I know I will. And when I do, I want to bring her something crazy! Two headed snakes! A flower shaped like a bow! A vegetable that tastes good!” She raises her fist, passionately exclaiming her ideas to the empty forest, until she breaks off in a fit of giggles. “I guess maybe not a vegetable, good tasting or not. She’d think I was telling her to go on a diet.”

“What’s it like to have siblings?” Rin asks curiously. She has limited experience with the concept, herself. She grew up around a lot of people, but they weren’t exactly related to everyone they were with.

Honoka takes a minute to think on it, wings curling around herself as she does. Theatrically, she unfurls them as she raises a finger with the triumphant stance of someone who’s just had a good idea. “It’s like having a cat, kinda! They scratch you and try to steal your food, and sometimes your parents say you should act more like them! But they love you too, and all that.” Honoka seems lost in a deluge of affectionate memories, wrapping her arms tightly around herself.

It occurs to Rin that Honoka, for all her talking-up of the situation, must miss having a sibling. After all, she just compared them to _cats_. It’s a high honor. How long has it been? A while, Honoka had said, but Tsubasa mentioned that the Akiba knights recruit their dragons by....

Oh.

“When do you think you’re going to see her again?”

Honoka shrugs, with a toothy smile. “I dunno. But I’m sure I will. I feel it in my gut, y’know? Dragons always know the way home. And when I get there, I’m sure mom and dad and Yukiho will all ask me, ‘what were you doing?!’. I want to bring them something worth the wait.”

“I’ll help!” Rin says, an enthusiastic volunteer. Hanayo also rumbles her agreement, a patchy warble, and Honoka wipes her eyes.

“That’s the nicest thing I’ve ever heard get said, Hanayo.....and you too, Rin! We’ll find the best gift ever!” Emotional, Honoka gets behind Rin to throw an arm around her shoulder and Hanayo’s, although wrapping just one arm around the latter proves difficult. She angles her head in toward Rin’s shoulder, nearly catching her in the head with her horns, but eventually the strange group-hug works.

Warmed by Honoka’s internal flame, Rin walks drowsily, watching as red and orange petals flit in and out of her vision.

* * *

Rin’s not sure of the precise border between when things were okay and when they stopped being okay - she’s just sure there was a specific distance they breached at which point the situation spun wildly out of control, and that it started with Hanayo and Maki.

They’re going on foot into the woods because it’s too dense to fly, and Rin has been walking alongside Hanayo for a while when the dragon suddenly locks up. “Hanayo?” She’s rooted in place, shaking her head this way and that, like something is clinging to her jaw and she wants to shake it off. Rin turns completely, and quickly tries to assuage whatever could be distressing her, enveloping her neck in a hug. “Did something scare you? Rin’s sure it was just a rabbit or something! Don’t worry!”

Then Maki starts acting up. She growls and suddenly starts digging at the ground with fervor, driving her claws in and making a rut in the forest floor. When Nico tries to get her attention, she snaps at her.

“What the hell has gotten into you?!” Nico seems ready to argue, but after a long pause, her shoulders drop, and the aggravated tone vanishes along with her posture change. “Maki? Talk to me.”

The red dragon seems unsettled, shaking herself off as if to free herself of some sort of phantom itch. Maki paws at the ground, distressed. Nico has given up on the tough guy act and is worriedly checking her partner. “Are you hurt? Did you run out of magic or something?”

Rin looks expectantly at Hanayo again - she always wants to help if someone is hurt! - but she still seems stuck on whatever has been bothering her too. Hanayo whines and pushes Rin, just lightly, away from herself when she tries to reassure her. After a moment, the push comes more aggressively, nearly throwing Rin off herself with her antlers. The wood-like horns scrape against Rin’s arm and she finally backs off, feeling the roughed skin.

This.....isn’t normal. Rin takes a minute to assess - Hanayo doesn’t usually move that quickly around groups, too worried about stumbling. To do it so impulsively might mean something scared her, but they’d already established the woods were empty....Rin frowns.

If something’s off, she’ll find it.

Were Hanayo’s eyes always that color? Rin stares in mute confusion while the others talk more and more Kotori landed, but is starting to look unsettled as well. Tsubasa and Umi are talking about it with each other.

“They’ve never done this before?” Tsubasa asks, sounding just a touch urgent.

Umi shakes her head. “Not from memory, no. Kotori, is there any chance you can shift back and tell us what’s wrong?”

With a stiff nod no, Kotori begins to veer away from the group - like she’s trying to avoid something. _Hers too_ , Rin thinks, and looks rapidly to Maki. Three makes it - something is definitely going on here.

“Honoka,” Umi starts, but then cuts herself off. Rin looks behind her and sees that Honoka appears to be in pain. “Honoka, are you....are you alright?”

“Don’t look, don’t look, don’t look......c’mon, Honoka, don’t look.....” Repeating this softly to herself seems to take up most, if not all, of Honoka’s concentration. She’s wound up tightly enough, if her wings are any indicator, putting as much between her line of sight and the woods as possible. She’s covering her eyes with her hands.  

Tsubsa steps forward worriedly, taking hold of one of Honoka’s arms. “It’s alright, Honoka, tell us what you’re not supposed to look at.”

“I have to _concentrate_ ,” Honoka manages to get that much out, squirming in apparent discomfort. Her horns are aglow, faintly, with molten energy. “I ‘unno what it is, just that I really, _reallllly_ wanna go to it....” She whines, high-pitch, and brings her hands more forcefully over her eyes, as if applying pressure would make the mystery-agitator go away.

Honoka’s nails find purchase on the too-soft, too-human skin of her forehead and she begins to bleed. Alarmed, Tsubasa rips Honoka’s arm away before more can be done, holding it with a tense grip. “ _Stop!_ Stop.”

“... Tsubasa?” Apparently unable to resist, Honoka cracks an eye open, and Tsubasa takes a quick step back. Honoka zeroes in on _something_ , nose twitching, and suddenly starts after it in more than a slight hurry. Even Tsubasa’s firm arm doesn’t stop her - she’s off and running soon enough.

Maki, Hanayo, and Kotori follow in short pursuit, apparently swayed over by Honoka’s own lack of control - that, or the mystery-thing applied a new wave of pressure.

“Get back here!” While not lacking her commanding presence, Umi’s words have no effect on the dragons in their mad dash. The four knights are forced to watch as they barrel through the woods, down the already-trampled path they’d been following.

Nico is the first to act. She goes running after them, determined not to fall behind, and turns back to scold the others into action. “Get a move on already! It’s not like we’re going anywhere without them, so there’s no point debating whether or not to follow!” With that she takes off in a dead sprint.

It’s faster than Rin’s ever seen her move, but still not as fast as a speeding dragon. Which is fair, since they have a lot of height and agility over a human Nico’s size. Damn, Rin is getting distracted again.

Still........the thing she’d noticed...

All of their eyes were _green_. Rin had never noticed that before.

She _would_ have, though. She knows she would have, which means something was wrong with their eyes specifically. Enchantment? Possession? Replacement? Did they ride the wrong dragons into town?

And why this part of the forest particularly?

Rin only escapes her confusion when Umi quite literally shakes her into awareness. “Rin! Focus!”

“Their eyes changed color.” Rin says, with a worried look in the direction her dragon friends - and now Nico - departed to. “Do you know why they would do that?”

A furrowed brow. “What about their eyes?”

Rin gestures to her own eyes. “Well, all of them had green eyes just now. They looked sorta glazed over, too, I guess....”

“Interesting. Honoka was affected that way as well.” It’s Tsubasa’s voice. “In that case, I may know what is afflicting our scaled friends. And we aren’t immune to it, either. I suspect as soon as Nico enters the range deeper in the forest she’ll be subject to the same force.”

“You’ve seen this before?” Umi presses, stopping Tsubasa in her tracks. The mercenary is already making to follow the path they’ve barged in.

“No, but I suspect the forest is under a magic enchantment that brings those who enter to a certain location. It explains the recent deprivation of wildlife. No doubt they’ve gathered wherever this trail leads.”

But the trail started a while back.... Does that mean it used to be stronger?

While Rin puzzles over it, Tsubasa continues to move forward, placing a hand on her sword. “I hate to say it, but we don’t have a choice in the matter. We should go after them, and quickly.”

“You must be joking.” Umi says, arms crossed. “We have to devise a plan for snapping them out of it. It’s obviously a trap.”

“And you believe we can defeat magic this powerful without our entire team? From a distance?” Tsubsa retorts, though her eyes never waver from the direction the others ran off. “Have reason, Sonoda. We’ve already _fallen_ for this trap, whatever it is. Our only hope is that we may escape it from the center as a team. Stop to strategize if you wish, but you’ll have to enter sooner or later.”

And with that, she’s off, leaving Umi and Rin stranded beside each other. “I don’t like this,” Umi whispers, and yet it seems to go unheard. The path seems cast in a pale, low light, uninviting to the core. “...We should follow.”

Rin nervously takes a hold of her hand. “It’ll be alright, captain!”

“I appreciate the sentiment, even if I can’t believe in it.” She murmurs, but does look over with genuine gratitude. “Stay close to me. Please.”

She nods, grave as they come.

They don’t say too much. For once, it’s not even a matter of Umi’s stoicness or Rin’s discomfort with silence - they’re just nervous, together. After a few minutes of walking in, Rin sees the glint of familiar armor - “Nico!”

Nico is half there, half not. Her pace is an odd shuffle. Rin thinks she sees another person in the woods, and shivers, pulling at Nico’s arm. “This is no problem for you, right, Nico?” She asks with a nervous titter. “You c-conquer woods like this for breakfast, isn’t that right, nya?”

The dead trees spill orange, suddenly, and Nico turns to look at Rin with glazed eyes that don’t belong to her, emerald green that _bleeds out into the surroundings and pulls the flowering trees into the center -_

“Nico!” Rin yelps, and tumbles away in time for Nico to shove away and start running again to get ‘there’ faster. Wherever it is.”Um _iiiii_....!” Rin whimpers, grabbing onto the taller woman’s arm once again.

“It’s alright. We _will_ find the rest.”

It’s just Umi. Umi and Rin. Rin and Umi. The trees grow wider. The canopy closes. Orange light creeps through the branches anyways, flowering marigolds replacing leaves the further in they go. Rin holds fast to Umi’s arm. The same petals she’s been seeing dance around her vision in full bloom, nearly to the point of blinding her. “This forest looks….funny.” She mumbles, watching the grass melt beneath her feet into thousands of upright rose petals.

The breeze comes by, and sends a flurry of them down the path, swirling in pattern with the orange and violet petals of the other flowers and creating a tunnel that Rin wants to-

Wants to –

It’s happening to her, she realizes belatedly. Rin shuts her eyes tightly, before they become too far enchanted with whatever drew her friends away. She gropes around for Umi’s arm. “It’s the forest,” She says insistently. “Everything looks funny, it’s the forest and our eyes and –“

“What are you talking about?” Umi asks, and Rin wishes she was joking but Umi asked it in that overly-serious voice of hers which means she must be telling the truth, and it’s so staggering that Rin forgets her promise and opens her eyes.

She stamps her foot. “The forest is weird because-“

“Your eyes are different!” Umi exclaims. “How?!” A pause; she pulls Rin very, very close, pressing her face against her armor. “Close them. Hurry.”

“I-I don’t,” Rin stammers, but does as she’s told. Somewhere the acknowledges the importance, and squeezes her eyes shut tight. Honoka figured this out, too. Eyes closed. It only makes the colors brighter now, and the low sounds of music begin to rattle about in her head. The impulse is irresistable. She chances it, looks away. The swirling petals are back, and the faint sounds of trumpets and music come to her, it feels like something is pushing at her feet, like….like…..

She turns around to look at Umi again, but her captain isn’t making sense anymore. She gets the distinct impression she’s supposed to hear words, but….nothing….

The tighter Umi holds Rin to herself, the more irresistible the path becomes, and the foggier her vision and mind both get. A distant, distant part of her feels her arm move toward her dagger, sees in her mind the route she’d need to take to most simply drive it through her arm - a distant part of herself prepares to indulge in that fatalistic impulse of “escape at any cost”, like a fox in a bear trap. When that happens, Umi stops her at the cost of her grip on Rin’s arm, shoving the girl away, and Rin doesn’t waste a millisecond stumbling away and sprinting down the path.

**“....Help her.”**

What was she saying again? It must have been something, something…. She strains her ears only to make out something incoherent even to herself, and falls into the path where flowers blow. A myriad of colors envelops her, and she comes out on the other side, left with nothing.

* * *

“Rin - _Rin!_ ” Umi calls, but there’s no more response, and the lightfooted girl only runs faster. Catching up would be a fool’s errand, and worse, put Umi’s guard down. There’s no one to watch her back now, after all. No one at all.

“Rin.....”  Umi withdraws her hand, staring deeper into the forest after her final comrade.

This....whatever it is, is much, much stronger than she’d ever imagined. Umi looks down to her hands, where she still holds Rin’s dagger. She’d feared mutiny at first - thought that somehow the forest was compelling Rin to attack her - but somehow, it was an even worse revelation to see her beginning to draw the blade inwards, in some awful attempt to get away. She’d confiscated the knife, but doing so left Rin open to escape....

She said the forest was changing, but....Umi looks around, stowing the dagger in her belt for the moment.

Changing? It has been the same since the very moment they stepped inside. Green and immobile; trunks as stiff as a rank of well-trained knights.

Umi is a talented warrior. In no ways is she incapable of surmounting this on her own, or so she tells herself. She can go it alone. It doesn't mean she wants to, but if she must, she can persevere. 

In the still forest, Umi draws her sword, and moves warily, ever so cautiously, down the long and spiraling path that has already stolen away the rest of her team, and vows to bring them all back safely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *sticks leg out* Foolish. Anyway oncoming Umi chapter, if u couldnt tell! The mission has just become a solo mission....RIP in rest Umi "no magic ability" sonoda.....
> 
> shockingly I don't have much to say here, mostly because im already raring to go on the next chapter and worried I'll spoil or drop a hint a little *too* big. Thank u so much for reading, n I hope you enjoyed the update!


	9. Friendly fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyyy im back! sorry this wasn't the 1-2 weeks id expected it to take (i think it's been 3 weeks) apparently my teachers heard i was getting writing done and thought itd be really fun and cool to assign projects that overlap but like, Only A Little(tm). ksdjhgjkh excuses aside this chapter is also like 70 % combat which also slowed the writing down a little but the specifics aren't important bc it's here and it turned out cool! (i hope.) Thanks for putting up with the wait! w/o further ado...

The path only seems to get longer the more time Umi spends walking down it. The eerie still of the forest is beginning to get to her: the trees do not move, and there is not even the sound of crickets to accompany her in her search. A few minutes in, she finds the first thing to break the pattern - a squirrel, trampled. Judging by the hoof-print, it got sucked into the path at the same time as a deer and wasn’t able to look where it was going....

With a sigh, Umi gets back to her feet from the half-kneel she’d taken, and shovels the poor thing onto the side of the path with the flat of her sword. No situational awareness..... She thinks back to Rin, wild-eyed, reaching for her dagger. 

So the only thing that matters is reaching an objective. Great. Although Umi has to wonder, what happens when they get there? Do they mull about, motionless? What use does some sorcerer have for a squirrel? 

It could be that a larger beast is drawing them in for a meal.....

Tense, Umi picks up the pace, moving at a light jog. It’s fair, she reasons, with her ever-increasing heart rate, to assume that this spell will not affect her if it hasn’t by now. It’s only reasonable that she hurry now that she knows she can. Umi calms herself with the thought that, however big any supposed creature might be, it would think twice before attempting to ensnare dragons.

The silence in the forest itself starts to feel like it’s mocking her. Even the ringing it creates in her ears is monotone, daring her to find a trace of other life, to hear a sound outside of the brush and branches beneath her feet, any sound besides her own breathing. 

Eventually the trees open up, spitting Umi out of their maze and into a wide-open clearing. It is entirely silent. Umi slows to a halt at the edge of the forest and, with needling precision, a thousand sets of emerald eyes face her direction, searchingly. 

She spots her teammates, one-by-one, though none seem to show a trace of recognition. Rin almost seems normal, but the way she carries herself is all wrong; Kotori’s eyes glow too brightly, Maki’s wings are held to tightly against her back. When they shift on their feet, the movement seems wooden, like the trees Umi has spent the last half hour venturing through alone. Honoka isn’t visible from where she is, which must mean she hasn’t transformed since taking off running.

Scattered amongst the ground are animals, of all types - any types. A wolf glowers at her from the shade of the forest trees while a small group of rabbits sit stock-still not ten feet away. Cluttered as the clearing is, the centre is clear: a small cottage, poorly-made and with a roof that looks to be in dire need of repair. Umi would guess the root cause lies in there.

Slowly, she moves forward. Every eye turns to follow her, but not a soul moves. Perched atop the roof, Kotori cranes her neck at odd angles. Umi clears her throat. “I will fix this,” She says, to no one in particular. Kotori doesn’t budge, anyway.

Ten measured steps. Umi’s open palm hovers over the door’s side - there’s no handle - and she pauses to take a breath and draw her sword. For the sake of ending this dreamlike state - she will strike down whoever lies inside. 

The door creaks open and Umi walks in carefully. The first thing she notices is the clutter, plants and wooden furniture strewn about the house. It’s organized, but there’s still a lot of it. There’s a wooden table by the front door, and broken glass litters the area to the left of it - something must have fallen off. Umi spots another door toward the back, but it doesn’t look like she’ll be investigating that far. 

Even insensible as she is to it, Umi can feel the magic in the air, so thick it’s nearly solid matter, and looks to her right, where waves of this feeling are coming off someone laying on the floor. 

The body looks like a girl - not particularly the wizened, fiendish sorcerer Umi had pictured in her mind’s eye when she tried to picture who could have sprung this trap on them. She’s young, at least. The woman on the ground is in a white blouse, untouched by tear or stain - the only splashes of color are from her hair, or the flowers woven within. 

_ There’s no mistaking the magic. _ Umi thinks, but even then she hesitates.Is it really okay to win a battle this way....?

“Stand, and state your intentions.” Umi says in a warning voice. The girl seems to roll a bit, but makes no move to stand. Her face is scrunched up, distorted with pain. There’s a chance that she has already used too much magic, and simply leaving her be will result in a solution. Optimistic, but unlikely, since Umi doesn’t know how long that will take. Umi has the perfect opportunity to terminate the woman and the spell on the spot....however, there is also the chance that the spell can only be removed by her. 

Damn her eyes. She can’t believe she’s doing this. “You there. Stand.” Obviously, this goes without a serious reaction, so Umi crouches and nudges the woman with the flat of her blade. “Are you conscious?” 

On obvious no. Umi pinches the bridge of her nose. “It seems there is no choice.” 

Umi kneels, intending to lift the woman and bring her out of the house - whether to kill or simply attempt to rouse her, she isn’t certain, though she’s tempted to hedge her bets on the former - but as soon as she gets a solid grasp on her side, the body moves to scream - loudly. 

“ _ NO _ \-  _! _ ” 

Dropping her immediately, Umi takes a step back only to feel that the ground is......moving......?

_ “What the - ?! _ ” Umi mutters, tensing her hand around her sword. 

Before she’s through with the thought, the house she’s in shakes, rattling, as a loud, cracking noise becomes evident on the side to the right of the doorframe. The sound repeats, and a close second follows from above, the sound of wingbeats and talons on thinly thatched roofing. 

With one last great and terrible crash, the right side of the wall gives out in an explosion of splintering wood, making way for a herd of stags, rearing up and stomping with reckless abandon upon the home. Umi dives for cover beside the kitchen table as the animals veer around and attempt to kick her before scrabbling out of the door. The woman she’d briefly woken is unscathed, but only just. The deer nearly trampled her.

‘ _ Was she....bait?’ _ Although she tries to make sense of it, Umi’s mind just won’t work. The magic is coming from that woman. She’s certain. But she very nearly lost her head to those deer.

Umi peers out the door, still hidden beneath the table, to find that the agitation has only spread. 

There are ripples, going outwards, through the green-eyed animals. The violent ones approach, while smaller creatures, birds and squirrels, take to the skies and trees and agitate, cawing and hissing. 

Kotori drives her body through the roof and nearly crushes Umi underfoot. 

That’s it: this house is a trap. Umi needs to escape before the hypnotized legion brings it down on top of her, although they’ve been fortunate for it not to collapse already. When she’s out, she’ll come back for that stranger, or at least the body.

With a sharp cry, Umi dives out the now-broken side of the house in efforts to avoid the wolves gathering at the doorframe. She still has her sword raised. Something leaps at her from behind, and she meets it with her blade - it clatters off hardened plate and Umi feels the vibration down to her arm. 

“...Kotori.” Umi says, with the uncomfortable realization dawning on her - if she strikes to incapacitate, Kotori could be injured, but doing nothing at all....! “Kotori, listen to me!”

Kotori takes to the air again, and begins making passes at Umi, taloned claws failing to find purchase on her breastplate. Luckily it seems her ability to aim precisely is also affected, but it’s only a matter of time before she gets a good grip and takes Umi into the air.....and any drop from the sky now, with no backup, is sure to be felt quite painfully. She needs to get to cover - the forest, possibly, any place she can focus on defending herself from just one angle. 

A torrential blast of water strikes her, but Umi keeps herself moving, only stumbling a little. The magical water slicks off her like the real thing might. 

Screaming past once again, Kotori pulls at Umi’s arm, nails piercing the leather guard, and Umi falls back into the pull, sword raised, but.....

She can’t really hit her, can she...? 

Umi can never allow her blade to be sullied with the princess’ blood, even if it is nonfatal. To cause any sort of blemish on her, it would be - Grimacing, Kotori scrapes at Umi’s head with her free foot, leaving a long scrape along her cheek as Umi tries to move out of the way. 

No matter if the sentiment is shared or not, Umi cannot strike to harm her princess. 

At this rate, her arm is going to be torn to ribbons, but she can’t bring herself to swing..... How pathetic. Umi grits her teeth. “Forgive me, Kotori...” That being said, Umi grabs Kotori’s other leg with her left hand, securing it tightly by the ankle. 

The dragon shrieks and lifts Umi off the ground, but when Kotori tries to release her, Umi holds on. She holds her sword so that it points toward the ground, and secures a grip on Kotori’s leg with that hand as well. Slowly but surely, she makes her way up toward her back, despite the thrashing and protesting. 

She can’t very well attack Umi while she’s on top of her, right? Attempting to buck her off is all well and good, but Umi has a grip like death. As Kotori thrashes, Umi inches closer towards her head, and Kotori begins to nosedive. 

“Will nothing make you come to your senses?!” Umi shouts over the wind, but they’re already careening towards the ground. At this rate, it’ll be a miracle if the impact doesn’t break a few bones. “ _ Kotori! _ ”

The ground is fast approaching, and Umi braces for impact, squeezing her eyes shut. 

There’s the sound of feathers, the soft rush of air past them, and then a dull thump of the two of them making impact with the dirt. 

Or, it would be the two of them. Kotori landed flat on her front side, allowing Umi’s own fall to be much-softened by her feathers. Looks like she tried to pull up at the last second and couldn’t make it back into the air.

Dismayed, Umi hurries off of her, but Kotori’s neck is still intact, and, well....there’s no blood.....

Kotori lets out a pathetic-sounding warble and inches her neck towards Umi. The eyes peering out of that mask-like armor are her own. “Dramatic as always, princess....” Umi sighs, placing a hand against her head in consolation. She glances down at her sword, worried it may have escaped her notice in the crash. 

It may have pressed up against Kotori, with the rest of Umi’s body - but there’s no blood, which means no cuts. Her pride remains, albeit a bit bruised by the knowledge that Kotori ultimately had to take the fall for her. With a whistle-like noise, Kotori lets her head fall, and her eyes shut. 

‘ _ She should be safe for now. They’re only coming for me....and it would be far worse to die and leave her without aid when she wakes.’ _ Umi reasons, and makes the determination that she can, at the very least, take a moment to recuperate in the woods before returning. For now, she’s counting her out. The princess isn’t used to this much physical exertion, dragon or otherwise, and it’s obvious enough she’s passed out more from exhaustion than actual pain of impact. Umi can make a run for the forest and fend off what comes her way until Kotori is ready to go, and then -

Hm. They’ll cross that road when they get there. Umi steps out of the way of a charging stag and tries to focus her mind on the objective of getting to the trees once again. 

_ Only a few meters to go now,  _ Umi thinks, remembering to control her breathing. It would seem fate has other plans for her, though. Just as she thinks she’s in a good, defensible position, the ground itself jerks beneath her, tossing her some distance to the side, back into the open. 

“Damn!” Pulling back, Umi puts a hand to her wounded arm, as the ground around her shakes uncontrollably, rocky pillars erupting from the dirt. Attempting to run would only lead to tripping. Hanayo and Maki prowl out from around the side of a pillar, heads low. 

Maki in particular looks a lot less-than-friendly. Snarling, she pulls her head back to release a stream of flame in Umi’s direction, and she braces her arms against the heat, protecting her face. 

It’s true that magic has no effect on her. Her armor, on the other hand.....

With a pack of superheated metal strapped to her chest and each limb, thinking and breathing both seem impossible tasks. Crying out, Umi needs to do both. The only way she will get out of this is to stop Maki’s fiery cascade. 

Umi holds one arm out in front of her face for the minimal protection it offers, and trudges against the flame until something slams into her side, throwing her against one of the newly-created pillars of stone and holding her there. 

“Release.....me!!” She can’t budge her attacker, and it’s obvious enough as to why. Hanayo has her body-blocked, trapping her against the stone. Her sword arm is pinned, although she doubts she’d be able to cut through Hanayo’s thick scales from such a short distance, anyway. “ _ Move _ , Koizumi!”

In vain, Umi shoves at Hanayo, but the more she squirms, the more force Hanayo puts on as she presses Umi into the rock. Even the slightest bit of recognition......anything....

“Please,” Straining, pushing as hard as she can, grants only minimal reward. Hanayo is beginning to move, but only by fractions. Her armor still burns, and it’s getting hard to push against the stone while her back is subject to that heat. 

The others are closing in on them. It’s clear as day. All urgency seems lost in the clearing - the previously agitated animals drop back into seated positions, lounging, and the pace Maki walks up at is leisurely, at best. 

Umi is no longer a threat - in other words, they are acting as if they have already defeated her. Tsubasa, Nico, and Rin approach as well, though none in their proper state of mind, and the former two each draw their swords. 

“So that’s it, then.....I knew this was a trap...” Letting her body relax, Umi loses all of the progress she’d made in pushing Hanayo off herself, and the earthen dragon slumps against her like a sack of potatoes. 

Struggling will get her nowhere. She needs to strategize.

She fixes her grip on her broadsword. If they’re going to attempt to strike her with swords, Hanayo will have to move, because they lack the precision needed to get her directly. She’ll have to be prepared then. It’s all Umi has to hope she can exploit. 

Tsubasa inches closer. The rapier gleams. On the other side, Nico has her sword at the ready, as well. Hanayo shifts on her feet. Umi fixes her grip. 

One.......two.....

The pressure is removed. Umi stumbles away from the rock and turns toward Nico’s swing, gripping Nico’s sword arm in one hand to stop the motion and bringing her pommel down onto her head with the other. Umi mentally apologizes to Nico for the ease with which she was able to attack her and turns her focus toward Tsubasa, who swung and hit the rock. 

Luckily for Umi she’s not fighting anyone else at full power....although she’s more than a little crippled herself, she retains, at the very least, her experiences. 

She feels, rather than sees, Maki approach from behind, and freezes. Armed humans she has always been able to defeat with ease, but dragons.....this is hopeless.....

There’s not even time to turn around before the blast of hot air reaches her, and soon the fire itself will -

“ENOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH!!!!!!!!!” Just as the flame licks at her back, threatening the steel with promise of heat, someone throws themselves at Umi, taking the both of them to the ground. 

Umi doesn’t land perfectly, but seeing as she’s been spared the hot iron, she acknowledges that there are worse fates. Grunting, she maneuvers on her good shoulder until she can turn herself around and get a better look at the person who has yet to move off of her. 

“Honoka?” She asks, as she finally gets a good look at the orange hair falling over her. 

“That’s my name, yeah!” She sounds a bit out of breath. “Just in the nick of time, right?”

Umi can still feel warmth from outside, but Honoka has done a pretty good job of covering her up - and Umi supposes fire magic would be relatively inconsequential for her, although it’s only a guess. “How did you manage to shake off the spell?” 

Honoka flashes her a grin. “I got distracted and figured it out~!” 

“You  _ what _ ,” Umi asks, in disbelief. She starts to try and get up, but Honoka doesn’t move off, so she presumes the flamethrower is still going strong outside the cocoon Honoka has created. Shadows streak over the tops of her wings, visible through the thin membrane. “Explain. Can we free the others?”

“I don’t know,” With a quick, sheepish laugh, Honoka looks away for a minute. “Uh, kinda, what happened was, I think the magick-y person doing all this stuff lost their concentration. And when they tried to lure me back in with the petals again, I tried setting one on fire, y’know, ‘cause I wanted them to go away. But they didn’t catch! So that’s when the illusion broke and I thought, hey now, somethin’ is  _ weiiiiiird. _ ” She draws one arm back from Umi’s shoulder, bringing that hand to her chin in a clear attempt to mimic the expression she must have made earlier, then laughs again. 

“Anyway, after that I remembered the first time back with you and Tsubasa asking me stuff, and I got really annoyed. But then I saw all the snacks just waiting around for me~! I was in the middle of one when I heard you yelling and started running, but Hanayo and Maki kept tripping me up, so I wasn’t able to get to you until now.” 

Umi brings one hand to her face, drawing yet another sigh. Truly, unbelievable. Still, her odds did just get a whole lot better. “Did you feel anything that might indicate where the culprit is?”

“That’s a no from me, captain!” She replies, maybe a bit too chipper. She certainly doesn’t need to shout, considering Umi is inches from her face, but she can ignore it this time. At least she’s using the proper form of address. “Have you looked in the house?”

“Yes, and I believe I’ve found her.”

Honoka cocks her head. “But...?” She prompts, seeing as, obviously, the problem has not been resolved. 

“She’s unconscious. I have no way of knowing whether killing her will end the spell, and besides that -”

“You can’t  _ kill _ someone in their sleep!” Sounding offended, Honoka shoves herself off of Umi, crossing her arms. “That’s so mean!”

Behind her, Maki seems to be attempting to catch breath, very visibly panting. All the grass around them has been completely charred to ash, but it looks like it took up the vast majority of Maki’s magic, keeping up a flame like that. 

Hanayo isn’t in sight, but Umi is keeping an eye out for her and Rin alike. Umi takes the time to reply, still looking around. She draws closer to Honoka, who steps closer in turn. “Well, I didn’t end up doing anything either way. I tried to move her and everything started attacking me.” 

Honoka hums, keeping her eyes trained on Maki. “So we should take care of these guys and go back to her, right?”

“That’s the plan I’m working with.” Umi agrees. 

Out of the corner of her eye, she notes Rin and Tsubasa needling closer, looking for an opening. “I don’t wanna knock my friends around too much...” Honoka mumbles, crossing her arms as she notices the same thing. She looks to Umi for reassurance. “Hey, is it really okay if we hit them?”

“Not seriously, of course. But I’ve been able to incapacitate both Nico and the princess without bringing either to serious harm.” Their backs are together, now. Despite lacking magic, Maki is still formidable, and creeps closer. As she does, Rin and Tsubasa do the same. “One solid, physical blow to the head to wind them or knock them out should be all that’s needed.” 

Although she can’t see her face, Umi can tell by her voice that something in her sentence has gotten Honoka  _ very _ excited. “So I’ve just gotta make their heads hurt?” She sounds like a squirming kid asking if they can really say a swear word. 

If she’s thinking about something, might as well let her loose. “Pretty much. Listen to me, Honoka. I’m going to try and get back into the house and capture the witch -”

“Get down, Umi!”

Instinctively, Umi hits the floor, covering her head with her arms - and something slams into her, knocking her fully into the ground. It’d have hurt a fair deal more if she’d been standing. Umi springs to her feet to see what assailed her, but Rin and Tsubasa are still a fair distance away, and that was too small to be Hanayo......

As Umi finishes her scan, she realizes that Honoka has moved from standing beside her to the air. 

Effectively, she has just been used as a launch pad. 

They’re most definitely having a long conversation about this later. For now, Umi grits her teeth in irritation and observes the results of Honoka’s strategy for quickly getting in the air. 

Cloaked in fire, Honoka, now airborne, shoots towards Maki. The dragon attempts to summon an icicle to block the path, but it might as well be butter before a hot knife. Honoka goes through clean and slams her entire body, horns-first, into Maki’s head. 

Maki lets off a howl of pain before wobbling a bit on her feet and falling to one side. Honoka preens atop her fallen foe, putting her hands on her hips as if in proud display. “That was  _ awesome! _ ” She cheers. “Umi, did you see? I was like, wham, pow - oh, crap! Get down!”

“I’m not falling for that again.” Umi says strictly, just as the familiar  _ thud _ of a bootstep falls behind her. Realizing Honoka hadn’t been joking, Umi tries to spin around, ducking back, and a blade slices clean through the space in front of her. A rapier, so this must be Tsubasa she’s fighting. 

Umi raises her sword to block the next blow, but she gets baited - as she lifts to block what she thought would be coming from above, Tsubasa sticks her in the side with it, right where the armor is leather rather than steel. She cries out, and Honoka comes running. 

Tsubasa quickly pulls the blade from Umi and uses it to keep Honoka at a distance, darting in and out with quick movements - She was definitely trained as a fencer before she ever worked as a knight. 

Still, the more time Umi wastes contemplating the more nicks and scratches Honoka receives. Grunting, Umi gets up to her feet and tries to take things to a quick end the best way she knows how. 

She kicks out one of Tsubasa’s knees from behind while she’s focused on Honoka, and when she’s forced into a kneel, grabs her by the shoulder and decks her in the face with a closed fist. 

Tsubasa drops like a sack of potatoes. “She’ll understand when we explain it to her later.” Umi says, a half-assed attempt to console a visibly concerned Honoka. “We need to get to the witch before someone else comes after us.” 

That seems to sharpen Honoka’s focus. “Just get inside. I’ll make sure nobody gets through the door!” 

“Tragically, the entire house is a door.” Since Honoka doesn’t seem terribly observant, Umi gestures to the wide-open side of the house, the part that’d been smashed in by the deer, and then the collapsed roof, courtesy of Kotori. 

Honoka’s face flushes red, and it’s not magma. “Uhhh, I knew that! I totally knew that. Just hurry up, alright? If Hanayo attacks us we’re done for!”

Well, she is right about that. There’s no way in hell they’re going to knock her out without harming her seriously first, considering her scales. 

Umi jogs as best she can to the cabin (she  _ has _ been stabbed once or twice today, after all)  and finds the strange woman laying in the same place she’d left her, purple hair still strewn with flowers. “You’ve caused us a lot of trouble for just one woman....” She sighs. This time she doesn’t hesitate to kneel beside her and pick her up, draping her over her shoulder like a sack and bringing her out roughly. 

Umi drops the stranger on the floor in front of Honoka and the dragon crowds around her side to get a look as well. “Is this her?” Umi nods, also staring downward. She has her hands on the witch, to restrain her in case she tries anything.  

Strangely, Rin and Hanayo are nowhere to be found, and the clearing - minus her downed teammates - rapidly empties. 

Honoka and Umi watch as the witch’s eyes, the same color that had plagued their path through the forest, flutter open. She speaks with the voice of someone with one foot through the undertaker’s door. “Please.....help...” 

Her body beneath Umi’s hands feels....too warm.

Paling, Umi moves her hand from the woman’s side, and sees a blossoming red stain upon her dress. “You’re injured.” 

The witch’s lip quirks in a grin, slow and broad. After a long moment, she tries to speak again. “I....c-could say the same.”

Now isn’t the time for jokes...! If there was no blood before, then this means that this is from the reopening of an old wound -  In other words, this whole ordeal has been a cry for help. “Honoka. Find everyone else immediately, and if they’re conscious, bring them here.” Umi orders. 

Wordlessly, Honoka retreats, and Umi grimaces down at the witch in front of her.

_ “Hurry _ ,” she thinks aloud, seeing as the witch seems to have lapsed from consciousness again. 

If she dies, Umi will never find out who attacked someone this powerful and  _ won _ . 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> don't worry: Kotori is just being dramatic. Nozomi might be understating the extent of her wounds, tho.......... 
> 
> combat is a major bitch to write, but I had a lot of fun with Honoka's "Secret Dragon Art: Cosmic Headbutt" maneuver, as short as the description of it is, lmfaoooo. I always kinda wondered why jumping off of shit made the jumps more powerful, but like, fuck it, this is technically an anime fic so go hard or go home and leave physics at the door, u feel....... As always please let me know what you thought of the chapter!! hopefully I can keep and regain a little bit of ye olde momentum and get this next one out in 2 weeks instead of 3.
> 
> P.S: as magic-proof as any characters might be, there's nothing to say that prowess carries over to their armor.. also please note: the chapter title is supposed to be a pun it's just kinda weak lol


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